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HISTORY   AND    SIGNIFICANCE 


SACRED  TABERNACLE 


HEBREWS. 


BY 

EDWARD     E.    ATWATER. 


NEW    YORK: 
DODD    AND    MEAD,    PUBLISHERS, 

762  Broadway. 

1875- 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1875,  by 

EDWARD    E.    ATWATER, 
In  the  Office  of   the   Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


THIS    VOLUME 

/S   DEDICATED    BY  THE  AUTHOR 

TO 

HIS  BELOVED  AND  VENERATED  FATHER; 

WHO,    HAVING    LONG    ENJOYED    COMMUNION    WITH     GOD    BY    FAITH, 

IS   WAITING,    IN     THE    EIGHTY-NINTH    YEAR    OF     HIS    AGE, 

FOR  ADMISSION   WITHIN   THE   INNER   SANCTUARY, 

WHERE    WE   SHALL   SEE   AS   WE    ARE    SEEN, 

AND    KNOW   AS    WE    ARE    KNOWN. 


PREFACE. 


An  instructor  called  my  attention  to  the  Hebrew  sanctuaries 
before  I  had  completed  the  first  year  of  theological  study,  and 
thereby  determined  my  specialty.  After  thirty  years  of  work  in  the 
ministry,  I  retired  from  the  pulpit  to  give  myself  wholly  to  a  sub- 
ject which  a  pastor  can  study  only  at  intervals,  and  for  the  purpose 
of  imparting  rudimentary  instruction.  The  preparation  of  this 
volume  has  been  accompanied  with  delight  by  reason  of  new  dis- 
coveries amid  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  hidden  in 
the  symbols  of  the  tabernacle.  Thanking  God  that  my  life  and 
health  have  been  spared  to  complete  the  work,  I  send  it  forth  in 
the  hope  that  my  readers  may  in  some  degree  share  with  me  in  my 
joy. 

Of  the  older  writers  on  the  tabernacle,  Lund  has  rendered  me 
much  service  by  the  thoroughness  of  his  work.  A  person  ac- 
quainted Avith  his  book  on  the  Hebrew  sanctuaries  can  easily 
believe  that  it  was,  as  he  says  in  the  preface,  the  result  of  thirteen 
years  of  application.  The  specimen  of  his  interpretation  of  the 
tabernacle,  given  in  the  second  part  of  this  volume,  ought  not  to 
diminish  our  respect  for  the  judgment  and  scholarship  evinced  in 
his  historical  investigations  ;  for  in  his  day  no  other  interpretation 
of  Hebrew  symbolism  had  been  suggested  than  that  of  the  wild, 
lawless  typologists  of  the  Cocceian  school. 


VI  PREFACE. 

Bahr  was  the  first  interpreter  who  attempted  to  apply  to  the 
subject  the  inductive  method  of  investigation.  From  him  more  aid 
has  been  derived  in  writing  tlie  second  part  of  tlie  book  than  from 
all  other  sources  ;  but  my  readers  who  are  familiar  with  his  Sym- 
bolik  will  discover  many  deviations  from  the  path  he  blazed  through 
the  previously  pathless  wilderness.  As  might  be  expected,  the  first 
explorer  made  some  mistakes  which  his  followers  easily  avoid. 
This  would  doubtless  have  been  the  case  if  Bahr  had  been  per- 
fectly impartial  in  his  interpretation ;  but  unfortunately  he  com- 
menced his  work  with  a  conviction  that  the  commonly  received 
view  of  the  purpose  of  Christ's  death  is  erroneous, — a  conviction 
so  strong  that  he  had  already  given  to  the  world  a  polemical  book 
on  the  atonement.  His  prejudices  led  him  astray,  and  compelled 
those  who  came  after  him  to  undertake  new  and  independent  ex- 
plorations. The  first  volume  of  a  revised  edition  of  his  Symbolik 
has  been  issued  since  the  following  pages  were  written,  but  I  have 
not  yet  seen  it. 

Of  writers  later  than  Bahr  to  whom  I  am  indebted,  Kurtz  de- 
serves to  be  here  mentioned  :  for,  in  cases  where  he  has  expressed 
his  opinion,  I  have  not  often  found  cause  for  dissenting ;  and,  in  the 
numerous  instances  in  which  my  judgment  has  coincided  with  his,  I 
have  not  deemed  it  necessary  to  make  specific  acknowledgment 
excejDt  when  his  language  is  adopted. 

The  work  which  Bahr  began  can  be  completed  only  by  a  suc- 
cession of  laborers,  each  of  whom  will  doubtless  make  some  mis- 
takes. Those  who  have  preceded  me  have  done  so  ;  and  I  cannot 
expect  that  my  inteqjretation  will  in  all  cases  be  satisfactory  to 
later  explorers.  Confident  that  my  studies  have  added  to  the 
knowledge  of  Hebrew  symbolism,  both  in  breadth  and  accuracy,  I 
hope  they  may  assist  those  who  come  after  me  to  make  additional 
discoveries. 

The  illustrations  have  been  gathered  from  different  sources  ;  but 


PREFACE.  vii 

those  which  exhibit  the  utensils  of  worship  are  generally  taken 
from  Neumann,  who  has  studied  the  subject  in  the  light  of  Assyri- 
ology.  His  conjectural  figure  of  a  Hebrew  cherub  has  been  given 
merely  as  a  conjecture  where  conception  can  only  approximate  to 
the  reality. 

The  book  is  intended  especially  for  clergymen  ;  but  I  have  endeav- 
ored to  write  so  that  persons  acquainted  only  with  their  vernacular 
English  may  find  advantage  and  pleasure  in  its  perusal.  Perhaps 
I  might  have  made  myself  more  acceptable  to  Hebrew  scholars  by 
introducing  more  Hebrew  words  into  the  text ;  but  I  hope  that  some 
of  the  many  laymen  who  are  interested  in  biblical  studies  will 
appreciate  my  determination  to  use  English  words  in  the  text  in  all 
cases  where  they  wQuld  serve  my  purpose. 

New  Haven,  October,  1874, 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


— « — 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION i 


BOOK   I.     HISTORY   OF   THE   TABERNACLE. 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Edifice  of  the  Tabernacle 9 

CHAPTER  II. 
Its  Furniture.       .    , 31 

CHAPTER  III. 
Its  Erection 45 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Its  Attendants 55 

CHAPTER  V. 
Its  Sacrifices 66 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Its  Lustrations .        .        .74 

CHAPTER   VIL 
Its  Calendar 84 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

PAGE 

Its  Migrations loo 

CHAPTER   IX. 
Its  Expenses 113 

BOOK    II.      SIGNIFICANCE    OF   THE   TABERNACLE. 

CHAPTER   I. 
Evidence  that  it  was  Significant 129 

CHAPTER   II. 

It  symbolized  the  Truths  of  the  Mosaic  Revelation         .    140 

* 

CHAPTER   III. 
It  typified  the  Truths  of  Christianity 155 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Means  of  Interpretation 167 

CHAPTER    V, 
Symbolism  of  Number  and  Form 182 

CHAPTER    VI. 
Symbolism  of  Color 209 

CHAPTER    VII. 
Symbolism  of  Minerals 225 

CHAPTER   VIII. 
Symbolism  of  Vegetable  Substances         233 

CHAPTER   IX. 
Symbolism  of  Animals  and  Composite  Animal  Forms  .     '  .    248 


CONTENTS.  xi 

CHAPTER   X. 
Interpretation  of  the  Edifice ""^g^ 

CHAPTER   X:. 
Interpretation  of  the  Furniture     ....  280 

CHAPTER   XII. 
Interpretation  of  the  Priesthood -j 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

Interpretation  of  the  Sacrifices 

342 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Interpretation  of  the  Lustrations -gj 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Interpretation  of  the  Calendar 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

Prophetic  Symbols,  or  Types 

399 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

Extent  to  which  the  Hebrews  comprehended  the  Signifi- 
cance OF  THE  Tabernacle      . 

427 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 
Study  of  the  Tabernacle  important  to  Christians     .        .    435 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Fig. 

1.  Front  Elevation .       Faces  title-page. 

Faces  Page 

2.  One  of  the  Planks  of  the  Frame 15 

3.  One  of  the  Corner  Planks 15 

4.  End  of  a  Corner  Plank 15 

5.  Side  of  a  Socket 15 

6.  Top  of  Two  Corner  Sockets 15 

7.  The  Two  Equal  Parts  of   "  The   Tabernacle,"   or   Inner- 

most Curtain 20 

8.  The  Two  Parts  of  the  Second  Curtain 27 

9.  Ark  of  the  Covenant  according  to  Neumann        .        .        .32 

10.  Ark  of  the  Covenant  with  its  Crown  placed  midway  fror^ 

Top  to  Bottom 32 

11.  Table  of  Show-Bre.\d  from  the  Arch  of  Titus     .        .        .38 

12.  Table  of  Show-Bread  according  to  Neumann         .        .        .38 

13.  14,  15.    Assyrian  Tables  and  Stool 39 

16.  Chandelier  from  the  Arch  of  Titus 40 

17.  Chandelier 41 

18.  Altar  of  Incense 42 

19.  Altar  of  Burnt-Offering 43 

20.  Ground-Plan  of  the  One  Hundred  Silver  Sills    .        .        -45 

21.  The  Frame  of  Acacia-Wood 46 

22.  "The  Tabernacle"  OF  Tapestry  fastened  UPON  the  Frame,  47 

23.  The  Covering  OF  Goat's  Hair  laid  OVER  "  The  Tabernacle,"  48 

24.  Ground-Plan  of  the  Edifice,  including  the  Court      .        .  49 

25.  Plan  of  the  Encampment 54 


xiv  IL  L  US  TRA  TIONS. 

Faces  IPagb 

26.  Eagle-headed  Human  Figure 257 

27.  Eagle-headed  Lion 258 

28.  Winged  Human-headed  Lion 259 

29.  Andro-Sphinx 260 

30.  Cherub  according  to  Neumann 261 

31.  Subordinate  Priest  in  Costume 325 

32.  Sacerdotal  Tunic 328 

33.  Loom  for  weaving  Seamless  Tunics 329 

34.  Tunic  without  Seam,  woven  in  the  Sixteenth  Century      .  330 

35.  Assyrian  King 331 

36.  Hindostanee  Turbans,  indicating  the  Rank  of  the  Wearers,  332 

37.  Robe  of  the  Ephod 333 

38.  High-Priest  in  Robe  of  the  Ephod 334 

39.  Ephod 335 

40.  Breastplate 336 

41.  Ephod  with  Breastplate  attached 337 

42.  Turban  of  a  Subordinate  Priest 338 

43.  Turban  of  the  High-Priest 338 

44.  Golden  Crown 338 

45.  Head  of  an  Assyrian  King  with  a  Crown  on  the  Forehead,  338 

46.  High-Priest  in  his  Ordinary  Costume 339 

47.  High-Priest  in  Costume  of  the  Day  of  Atonement      .        .  340 


INTRODUCTION. 


If  the  art  of  photography  had  been  known  to  the  skil- 
ful artisans  who  constructed  the  Sacred  Tabernacle  of 
THE  Hebrews,  they  would,  doubtless,  have  endeavored 
to  transmit  to  the  generations  to  come  a  view  of  the 
edifice  as  it  stood  after  its  first  erection  in  the  midst  of 
the  vast  encampment  by  which  it  was  surrounded.  In 
the  absence  of  a  contemporary  picture,  we  are  able,  by 
means  of  the  detailed  description  in  the  books  of  Moses, 
to  reproduce  in  imagination  the  scene  which  was  spread 
out  at  the  base  of  Sinai  on  the  first  anniversary  of  the 
exodus  from  Egypt. 

The  tents  of  two  millions  of  people  are  pitched  in 
four  divisions  around  a  hollow  square ;  each  division 
containing  three  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  and  there- 
fore subdivided  into  three  smaller  encampments,  sepa- 
rated by  spaces  broader  than  the  numerous  streets, 
which,  crossing  each  other  at  right  angles,  divide  tent 
from  tent  within  the  bounds  of  a  tribe.  Here  this  mul- 
titude of  people  have  continued  without  change  of  place, — 
here  their  tents  have  remained  pitched  for  three-fourths 
of  a  year.  Yesterday  the  tabernacle  was  erected.  It 
stands  facing  the  east,  in  the  centre  of  the  hollow  square  ; 
and  in  the  ample  court  surrounding  it  are  to  be  seen  the 
brazen  laver  for  the  ablutions  of  the  priests,  and  the  great 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

altar  of  burnt-offering  on  which  the  fire  is  to  be  perpet- 
ually preserved.  Immediately  around  this  court  are  the 
tents  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  the  tribe  set  apart  to  the  ser- 
vice of  the  tabernacle,  and  no  longer  numbered  as  one 
of  the  twelve  ;  Ephraim  and  Manasseh  being  counted  as 
two  tribes  to  perpetuate  the  original  and  symbolic  num- 
ber, twelve. 

So  vast  a  multitude  of  people  has  seldom  been  gath- 
ered in  one  encampment  of  tents.  It  is  a  grand  specta- 
cle, probably  not  inferior  in  grandeur  to  that  which 
afterward  met  the  eye  of  Balaam,  when,  gazing  from  the 
summit  of  Peor,  he  exclaimed,  "  How  goodly  are  thy 
tents,  O  Jacob,  and  thy  tabernacles,  O  Israel !  As  the 
valleys  are  they  spread  forth,  as  gardens  by  the  river's 
side,  as  the  trees  of  lign-aloes  which  the  Lord  hath 
planted,  and  as  cedar  trees  beside  the  waters."  ^ 

Of  this  goodly  picture,  the  tabernacle  is  the  central 
feature.  The  habitations  of  the  people  are  disposed 
around  it ;  their  eyes  turn  toward  it  in  the  morning  and 
at  evening  ;  and  their  prayers  ascend  with  the  smoke  of 
sacrifice  which  goes  up  from  its  altar.  Not  only  in  the 
morning  and  at  evening,  but  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and 
night,  it  is  the  cynosure  to  many  who  stand  observant 
of  that  visible  manifestation  of  Jehovah,  which  rests 
over  it  as  a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day,  and  a  pillar  of  fire  by 
night. 

WHAT,     THEN,     IS     THIS     EDIFICE  }      WHENCE     CAME     IT  } 
FOR    WHAT    PURPOSE    WAS    IT    ERECTED  } 

Fifty  days  after  the  exodus  from  Egypt,  Moses  re- 
ceived on  Sinai  the  two  tables  of  stone,  on  which  God 

1  Num.  xxiv.  2-6. 


INTRO  D  UC  TION.  3 

had  inscribed  the  Ten  Commandments.  At  the  same 
time  he  received  instructions  to  build  a  tabernacle,  with 
minute  specifications  of  the  form,  measure,  and  materials 
of  its  several  parts.  After  forty  days  spent  on  the 
mountain,  much  of  the  time  occupied  in  receiving  from 
God  instructions  in  regard  to  the  edifice  itself,  its  appur- 
tenances, its  attendants,  its  services,  and  the  import  of 
the  whole,  he  returned  to  the  camp  to  communicate  to 
the  people  the  divine  commands. 

With  alacrity  they  responded  to  the  proposal  that 
they  should  contribute  such  materials  as  they  might  have 
in  possession,  suitable  for  use  in  constructing  the  sacred 
edifice.  More  than  an  ample  supply  of  timber,  of 
leather,  of  cloth,  of  metals,  and  of  jewels,  was  soon 
brought  to  the  persons  appointed  to  receive  it ;  men  and 
women,  rich  and  poor,  uniting  in  a  common  enthusiasm 
which  sometimes  required  the  sacrifice  of  personal  orna- 
ments, and  the  relinquishment  of  the  means  of  domestic 
embellishment. 

A  corps  of  artisans  skilful  in  various  kinds  of  work 
was  then  selected,  and  placed  under  the  superintendence 
of  Bezaleel,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  with  Aholiab,  of  the 
tribe  of  Dan,  next  to  him  in  authority.  There  were 
among  them  carpenters  and  carvers,  goldsmiths,  silver- 
smiths, and  coppersmiths,  moulders  and  founders,  spin- 
ners, weavers,  and  embroiderers.  Eminent  in  skill  by 
natural  aptitude  and  much  practice  in  Egypt,  they  were 
assisted  in  their  work  by  the  Spirit  of  God  imparted  for 
this  special  service. 

These  workmen  were  occupied  about  nine  months  with 
the  task  assigned.  All  things  being  then  ready,  the 
specified  space  was   enclosed,  the  altar  and  laver  were 


I 


4  INTR  OD  UC  TION. 

put  in  place,  the  tabernacle  itself  was  erected,  and  the 
furniture  of  its  two  apartments  was  carried  within.  It  was 
the  fourteenth  day  of  the  first  month  of  the  year,  when 
the  Israelites  fled  from  Egypt :  it  was  the  first  day  of  the 
first  month  in  the  subsequent  year,  when  the  tabernacle 
was  erected. 

Immediately  the  people  who  had  so  willingly  under- 
taken to  build  a  sanctuary  for  Jehovah,  in  which  he 
might  dwell  among  them,  had  evidence  that  their  work 
and  offerings  were  acceptable  to  him  ;  for,  on  the  day 
when  the  tabernacle  was  erected,  the  shechinah,  through 
which  he  manifested  his  friendly  presence,  rising  from 
the  tent  temporarily  used  as  a  sanctuary,  ^  removed,  and 
rested  on  the  new  and  beautiful  edifice  which  had  been 
so  long  in  process  of  construction.  There  it  remained 
as  a  column  of  cloud  by  day,  and  of  fire  by  night,  as 
long  as  He  who  was  represented  by  it  desired  the  en- 
campment to  continue  ;  and,  by  express  appointment,  the 
rising  of  the  shechinah  from  the  tabernacle  was  hence- 
forth, during  the  long  journey  through  the  wilderness, 
the  signal  for  removing  to  another  station.  "  So  it  was 
always :  the  cloud  covered  it  by  day,  and  the  appearance 
of  fire  by  night ;  and  when  the  cloud  was  taken  up  from 
the  tabernacle,  then  after  that  the  children  of  Israel 
journeyed ;    and  in  the  place  where  the   cloud  abode, 


1  It  is  evident  from  the  Book  of  Exodus,  that,  before  the  erection  of  the  Sina- 
itic  tabernacle,  a  tent  had  been  used  as  an  appointed  place  of  meeting  between 
Jehovah  and  the  people.  There  is,  however,  no  record  of  its  erection,  or,  if  an 
ordinary  tent  was  set  apart  for  the  purpose,  of  its  consecration,  unless  the  mention 
of  it  in  connection  with  the  sin  of  the  golden  calf  is  to  be  so  imderstood.  That 
narrative  seems  to  read  more  naturally  if  one  conceives  of  the  temporary  sanctuary 
as  previously  set  apart  to  that  use,  and  now  removed  out  of  the  camp  to  testify 
Jehovah's  displeasure  with  the  Israelites  on  account  of  their  idolatrj". 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

there  the  children  of  Israel  pitched  their  tents.  At  the 
commandment  of  the  Lord  the  children  of  Israel  jour- 
neyed, and  at  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  they 
pitched  :  as  long  as  the  cloud  abode  upon  the  tabernacle 
they  rested  in  their  tents."  ^ 

The  sanctuary,  being  thus  completed  and  set  up,  is 
now  to  be  dedicated  with  a  series  of  ceremonies  pro- 
tracted through  twelve  days  ;  each  of  the  tribes  occupy- 
ing one  day  in  the  presentation  of  gifts  and  the  offering 
of  sacrifices.  Of  this  edifice  the  following  pages  are  to 
treat. 

1  Num.  be.  16-18. 


PART   I. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  TABERNACLE. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  TABERNACLE. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE   EDIFICE   OF   THE   TABERNACLE. 

Moses  received  on  Sinai  not  only  a  command  to  make 
the  tabernacle,  but  plans  and  specifications  according 
to  which  the  work  was  to  be  executed.  A  pattern,  or 
model,  was  shown  him,  to  which  he  was  required  to  con- 
form not  only  in  general,  but  in  all  particulars.  This 
pattern,  so  far  as  we  can  judge  from  the  distinctive 
meaning  of  the  word,  was  something  more  than  a  repre- 
sentation on  a  perspective  plane.  Perhaps  he  was  made 
to  see  an  exact  exemplar  of  the  edifice  he  was  to  con- 
struct. Besides  this  pattern  which  was  shown  him,  he 
received  very  minute  descriptions  of  the  several  parts 
of  the  building,  with  directions  as  to  the  materials  of 
which  they  were  to  be  made,  their  forms,  and  their 
measures.  With  the  aid  of  these  descriptions,  which 
have  been  transmitted  to  us,  we  are  able  to  reproduce 
the  structure  almost  exactly  as  it  stood. 

Its  ground-plan  was  a  parallelogram  forty-five  feet  in 

9 


lo  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

length,  and  jEifteen  feet  in  width.^  The  parts  required 
by  the  specifications  having  been  severally  fabricated, 
and  made  ready  to  be  put  together,  the  next  thing  to  be 
done  would  be  to  set  up  around  three  sides  of  this  par- 
allelogram a  wooden  frame,  or  wall,  such  as  we  now 
proceed  to  describe. 

The  material  was  of  shiitim,  a  species  of  acacia,  the 
timber  of  which  has  a  rich  black  color,  like  ebony,  and 
is  eminently  light,  solid,  strong,  and  smooth.  This  spe- 
cies of  acacia  is  still  found  in  the  regions  traversed  by 
the  Israelites  in  their  passage  from  Egypt  to  Canaan. 
Stanley  speaks  of  it  as  a  spreading  tree  with  gay  foliage 
and  blue  blossoms,  which  he  saw  in  Egypt  and  after- 
ward in  the  desert.  ^  Robinson,  in  his  journey  from 
Jerusalem  to  Gaza,  passed  through  a  valley  called  Wady 
es-Sumt,  taking  its  name  from  the  abundance  of  these 
trees.^ 

The  frame  of  the  tabernacle  consisted  of  forty-eight 
pieces  of  this  acacia-wood  standing  on  end.  Eight  of 
them  were  at  the  rear  of  the  edifice,  and  twenty  on  each 

1  After  some  hesitation,  the  author  has  decided  to  use  English  measures  in  this 
part  of  his  work,  hoping  thereby  to  give  the  reader  a  more  definite  conception  than 
by  the  transfer  of  the  Hebrew  names.  In  so  doing,  he  is  obliged  to  express  his 
opinion  of  the  length  of  the  Hebrew  cubit.  In  representing  it  as  equivalent,  or 
nearly  equivalent,  to  eighteen  English  inches,  he  would  not  be  understood  as  ignor-, 
ing  the  difficulties  which  oppose  such  a  conclusion,  or  the  decision  of  eminent 
scholars  against  it.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  ammak  of  the  Hebrews 
was,  as  the  name  indicates,  the  measure  of  a  man's  arm  from  the  elbow  to  the 
hand  ;  but  there  is  some  uncertainty  whether  the  measure  beginning  at  the  elbow 
was  to  include  the  hand  to  the  end  of  the  middle  finger,  or  to  stop  at  the  wrist. 
The  reader  who  is  particularly  curious  on  this  point  may  consult  the  article 
"Weights  and  Measures,"  in  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary.  It  will  be  necessary,  in 
that  part  of  tl»e  work  which  relates  to  symbolism,  to  recur  to  the  Hebrew  measures. 

2  Sinai  and  Palestine.    New  York,  1857.    Pp.  21,  69. 

3  Biblical  Researches  in  Palestine.  Boston,  1841.  Vol.  ii.  p.  349.  Stoitisthe 
Arabic  name  of  the  acacia. 


THE  EDIFICE   OF  THE   TABERNACLE.  ii 

of  its  sides ;  the  front  being  left  open  to  be  covered  with 
a  curtain.  They  were  each  fifteen  feet  long,  and,  unless 
the  two  outside  pieces  on  the  rear  end  were  exceptions, 
twenty-seven  inches  wide.  It  is  remarkable  that,  while 
the  width  of  the  other  forty-six  pieces  is  specified,  we 
have  no  means  of  ascertaining  with  certainty  the  width 
of  these  two  corner-pieces.  This  is  the  more  to  be 
regretted,  as  the  thickness  of  the  frame  is  a  problem 
which  we  could  easily  solve,  if  we  knew  the  width  of  the 
edifice  measured  on  the  outside.  The  Scriptures  giving 
no  information  in  regard  to  the  thickness,  it  is  not  easy 
to  decide  between  contradicting  witnesses  and  opposing 
arguments.  It  must  have  been  certainly  too  great  to 
justify  the  use  of  the  word  " boards"  as  descriptive  of 
the  forty-eight  pieces  of  acacia-wood  of  which  the  frame 
of  the  tabernacle  consisted.  The  Hebrew  word  comes 
from  a  root  which  signifies  to  cut,  and  is  as  applicable  to 
planks  as  to  boards.  Several  inches  of  thickness  would 
be  required  to  give  strength  and  straightness  to  a  frame 
constructed  of  pieces  of  wood  twenty-seven  inches  wide. 
The  Jewish  rabbles  say  that  they  were  one  cubit  thick, 
and  Lund  attempts  to  confirm  their  testimony  by  argu- 
ment. His  reasoning,  briefly  stated,  is,  that,  in  the 
absence  of  information  to  the  contrary,  we  should  believe 
that  the  corner-pieces  were  of  the  same  width  as  the 
others  ;  in  which  case,  the  eight  timbers  at  the  end  would 
give  an  outside  width  to  the  edifice  of  eighteen  feet ; 
and,  the  inside  width  being  fifteen  feet,  the  walls  must 
be  each  eighteen  inches  thick  in  order  to  give  a  meas- 
urement of  eighteen  feet  on  the  outside.  It  must  be 
confessed  that  such  measurements  would  construct  a 
very  symmetrical  and  substantial  frame;  but  when  we 


12  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

remember  that  the  tabernacle  was  a  portable  edifice,  to 
be  many  times  erected  and  ta}cen  down  in  the  removals 
of  a  nomadic  people,  it  seems  incredible  that  the  frame 
should  be  eighteen  inches  thick.  Even  if  the  acacia  far 
exceeded  all  other  species  of  wood  in  lightness,  such  tim- 
bers would  be  individually  too  heavy  to  be  easily  handled, 
and  in  the  aggregate  both  too  heavy  and  too  bulky  for 
transportation.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  articles  of 
its  furniture  which  were  carried  by  hand,  the  tabernacle, 
with  all  its  appurtenances,  was  loaded  upon  six  wagons, 
and  drawn  by  six  yoke  of  oxen.  Indeed,  all  the  wood- 
work of  the  frame,  together  with  the  silver  sill  under- 
neath it,  and  the  sixty  pillars  on  which  the  curtain 
enclosing  the  outer  court  was  hung,  were  carried  on  four 
wagons,  and  drawn  by  four  yoke  of  oxen.  So  many  tim- 
bers, each  fifteen  feet  long,  twenty-seven  inches  wide, 
and  eighteen  inches  thick,  to  say  nothing  of  the  silver 
sill  and  the  pillars  around  the  court,  could  not  possibly 
have  been  piled  on  four  wagons. 

This  difficulty  is  not  sufficiently  diminished,  if,  with 
Lightfoot,  we  reduce  the  thickness  to  nine  inches ;  but, 
if  we  suppose  it  to  have  been  four  inches  and  a  half,  we 
can  ascertain  by  computation  that  we  have  arrived  with- 
in the  bounds  not  only  of  possibility,  but  of  credibility. 
This  would  make  the  width  of  the  corner-boards  just 
one-half  the  width  of  the  others ;  thus  answering  the 
demands  of  symmetry  nearly  and  perhaps  quite  as  well, 
and  accounting  for  the  separate  mention  of  them  in  dis- 
tinction from  the  other  six  on  the  west  end  of  the  build- 
ing. Such  a  supposition  accords  nearly  with  the  state- 
ment of  Josephus,  that  the  pillars  of  which  the  walls  of 
the   tabernacle   consisted  were   four  fingers  thick,  and, 


THE  EDIFICE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  13 

again,  that  they  were  the  third  part  of  a  span  in  thick- 
ness ;  ^  though  it  is  true,  as  Lund  alleges,  that  his  testi- 
mony is  of  little  value,  as  he  is  evidently  careless  in  his 
statements,  and  not  always  consistent  with  himself. 
These  timbers  of  the  frame  are  termed  pillars  both  by 
Josephus  and  the  Septuagint  translators ;  but,  to  distin- 
guish them  easily  from  the  pillars  which  stood  in  rows 
across  the  edifice  to  support  its  transverse  curtains,  or 
veils,  we  shall  designate  them  hereafter  ^iS  planks. 

The  hypothesis  that  the  planks  were  four  inches  and 
a  half  thick,  makes  the  corner-planks  half  as  wide  as  the 
others,  but  offers  no  suggestion  as  to  their  shape.  The 
description  of  the  corner-planks  is  obscure,  but  favors  the 
opinion  that  each  consisted  of  two  pieces  fastened  to- 
gether at  a  right  angle  ;  so  that  it  was  a  corner-plank  not 
merely  because  it  stood  at  the  corner,  but  because  it 
formed  an  angle.  The  direction, "  they  shall  be  twinned,"  - 
seems  to  imply  that  the  two  pieces  of  each  corner-plank 
were  of  equal  width.  The  objection  to  this  shape  is,  that 
it  gives  the  edifice  a  length  of  more  than  thirty  cubits  ; 
and  the  answer  to  the  objection  is,  that  inside  measures 
are  always  to  be  understood,  and  that,  if  the  corner- 
planks  added  nine  inches  to  the  length,  this  addition  was 
needed  to  give  ten  cubits  in  the  clear  to  the  innermost, 
and  twenty  cubits  in  the  clear  to  the  outermost  apart- 
ment ;  nine  inches  being  so  much  occupied  by  the  two 
rows  of  pillars  which  traversed  the  building,  as  to  be  left 
out  of  account  in  the  measurement  of  length. 

On  the  lower  end  of  each  of  the  planks,  two  tenons 
were  wrought,  to  correspond  with  mortises  in  the  sills  on 
which  it  was  to  stand.     Possibly  there  were  also  tenons 

1  Antiquities,  book  iii.  ch.  vi.  §3.      2  Exod.  xxvi.  24  :  marginal  reading. 


14  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

and  mortises  on  the  edges  where  the  planks  came  to- 
gether ;  but  of  this  we  have  no  certain  knowledge. 
Such  a  connection  of  one  plank  with  another,  by  tenon 
and  mortise,  would  give  greater  strength  to  the  frame, 
but  might  not  be  necessary  in  addition  to  the  horizontal 
bars  which  bound  the  planks  together.  There  were  five 
such  bars  on  each  side,  and  five  on  the  rear,  made  of 
acacia-wood,  and  overlaid  with  gold.  In  regard  to  the 
arrangement  of  them,  there  are  different  opinions.  The 
specifications  require  that  the  bar  midway  from  top  to 
bottom  shall  reach  from  end  to  end.  Keil  infers  that 
the  other  four  were  shorter.  He  conjectures  that  they 
were  only  half  as  long  as  the  middle  bar,. and  that,  the 
rings  being  arranged  to  form  but  three  horizontal  rows, 
two  of  these  shorter  bars  filled  the  rings  of  the  upper 
row,  and  the  other  two  the  rings  of  the  lower  row.  In 
the  absence  of  definite  information,  this  conjectural 
arrangement  of  the  rings  and  bars  is  as  free  from  objec- 
tion as  any  other,  and  more  so  than  the  old  hypothesis 
that  a  passage  was  bored,  for  the  middle  bar,  through  the 
planks  themselves.  The  thought  of  such  a  passage 
through  the  planks  was  suggested  by  the  words,  "  the 
midst  of,"  in  the  sentence,  "  The  middle  bar  in  the  midst 
of  the  boards  shall  reach  from  end  to  end."  ^  But  the 
expression  refers  to  the  position  of  the  bar  as  midway 
from  top  to  bottom,  and  not  as  within  the  planks. 

Whatever  may  be  the  specific  gravity  of  acacia-wood 
as  compared  with  other  kinds  of  timber,  planks  of  such 
size,  even  if  we  reduce  the  thickness  to  four  inches  and 
a  half,  must  have  been  heavy ;  and  we  are  therefore  dis- 
posed to  infer,  when  we  read  that  they  were  overlaid 

1  Exod.  xxvi.  28. 


Fic.    2. 
ONE  OF  THE  PLANKS 


Fig.  4. 

[END  OF  A  CORNER 
PLANK. 


Fig.  5. 
SIDE  OF  A  SOCKET. 


a. 


n 


Fig.  3. 
ONE  OF  THE 


Fig.  6. 
TOP  OF  TWO 


OF  THE  FRAME.    CORNER  PLANKS.  CORNER  SOCKETS. 


THE  EDIFICE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  15 

with  gold,  that  the  precious  metal  which  covered  them 
was  not  thick.  Modern  art  could  make  a  single  ounce 
of  gold  suffice  to  cover  one  thousand  four  hundred  and 
sixty-six  square  feet.  Great  progress  has  been  made, 
however,  in  gold-beating  within  two  centuries ;  and  it  is 
probable,  from  the  specimens  found  in  Egypt,  that  the 
ancient  goldsmiths  of  that  country  were  on  a  level  with 
those  of  Europe  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century.^ 

These  gilded  planks  of  acacia-wood,  when  erected, 
stood  on  a  base,  or  sill,  of  silver,  which  extended  perhaps 
a  little  way  both  outward  and  inward,  from  the  wall 
formed  by  the  planks,  and  was  divided  into  twice  as 
many  pieces  as  there  were  planks  ;  so  that  each  of  the 
latter  stood  on  two  separate  pieces  of  the  base,  one  of 
its  two  tenons  being  inserted  into  a  corresponding  cavity 
in  each  division  of  the  base. 

Besides  the  planks  which  formed  the  wall  of  the  tab- 
ernacle, there  were  four  pillars,  so  called  with  greater 
strictness  of  propriety,  to  support  a  curtain  across  the 
interior  of  the  building,  dividing  it  into  two  apartments ; 
and  five  pillars  to  support  another  curtain  over  the 
entrance  at  the  east  end  of  the  edifice.  The  four 
pillars  for  the  partition-curtain  stood  on  sills,  or  socket- 
pieces  of  silver,  and  the  five  for  the  entrance-curtain  on 
sills  of  copper.^  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that,  while 
almost  every  thing  used  in  the  construction  of  the  tab- 

1  Wilkinson  :  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians.  London, 
1841.    Vol.  iii.  p.  235. 

2  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  Hebrews  were  unacquainted  with  the  com- 
position of  copper  and  zinc,  now  known  by  the  name  of  brass.  Copper  may  have 
been  sometimes  alloyed  with  tin  ;  but  the  word  rendered  in  our  version  '■'■brass'''' 
signifies,  of  itself,  copper.     See  the  article  "  Brass  "  in  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary. 


1 6  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

ernacle  is  specified  as  given  by  voluntary  contribution, 
the  silver  sills,  numbering  just  one  hundred,  were  made 
from  the  avails  of  a  poll-tax  of  a  half  shekel  levied  upon 
all  males  from  twenty  years  old  upward ;  so  that,  there 
being  a  talent  of  silver  in  each  sill,  it  required  the  poll- 
tax  of  three  thousand  men  to  make  it.  But  of  this  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  speak  again  in  another  chapter. 

The  wooden  frame  of  the  tabernacle,  as  above  de- 
scribed, having  been  prepared,  it  was  necessary  to  cover 
it  with  suitable  hangings,  or  curtains.  Of  these  there 
were  four  layers ;  the  innermost  so  far  excelling  the 
others  in  importance,  that  it  was  sometimes  denominated 
THE  TABERNACLE,  as  if  all  clsc  appertaining  to  the 
edifice  were  subsidiary  to  this.  It  is  more  natural  for 
us,  who  dwell  in  houses  which  are  not  portable,  to  think 
of  the  wall  of  acacia-wood  as  the  most  essential  part  of 
the  edifice ;  but  an  attentive  study  of  the  directions 
given  to  Moses,  and  of  the  report  he  makes  of  the  work 
as  it  proceeded,  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  frame 
was  chiefly  designed  to  give  support  to  the  beautiful 
drapery  with  which  it  was  covered. 

In  the  conception  of  a  Hebrew  travelling  through  the 
wilderness  from  Sinai  to  Canaan,  the  tabernacle  where 
Jehovah  dwelt  was  of  cloth,  as  was  his  own  habitation. 
It  was,  indeed,  of  a  more  beautiful  fabric  than  the  other 
tents  of  the  encampment,  which  were  doubtless  of  goat's 
hair,  like  those  of  the  nomadic  inhabitants  of  the  same 
region  at  the  present  day,  while  the  tabernacle  of  God 
was  of  fine  linen  variegated  with  brilliant  colors. 

The  cloth  here  spoken  of  as  linen  was  the  most  beau- 
tiful and  costly  product  of  the  loom  known  among  the 
ancients.     Luther  renders  the  word  as  equivalent  to  silk  ; 


THE  EDIFICE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  17 

and  our  English  translators,  perhaps  misled  by  him,  have 
admitted  the  word  ''silk''  into  the  margin  of  the  passage 
which  relates  how  Pharaoh  honored  Joseph  with  the 
apparel  and  other  appurtenances  of  royalty.^  If  the 
Septuagint  is  right  in  applying  the  Greek  word  bussos  to 
this  cloth,  it  was  the  same  as  that  which  is  spoken  of  as 
fine  linen  in  the  parable  of  the*  rich  man  and  Lazarus,^ 
and  also  in  some  of  the  last  chapters  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment.^ There  is  reason  to  believe  that  this  shesJi,  as  the 
Hebrews  called  it,  excelled  other  fabrics,  not  only  in  the 
fineness  of  its  fibre,  but  in  the  purity  of  whiteness 
to  which  it  might  be  bleached ;  for  the  name  is  derived 
from  a  word  which  signifies  white ;  and,  in  the  account 
we  have  of  John's  vision  of  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb, 
it  is  said  that  to  his  wife  was  granted  that  she  should  be 
arrayed  in  this  fine  linen,  clean  and  white.*  Not  only  was 
the  fibre  of  this  vegetable  naturally  small,  but  care  was 
taken  in  spinning  it  to  produce  a  small  and  at  the  same 
time  a  strong  thread ;  it  having  been  specified  in  the 
directions  that  the  curtains  should  be  made  of  shesh  that 
was  fine-twisted.^ 

The  spinning  of  this  fine  white  thread,  of  which  the 

1  Gen.  xli.  42. 

2  Luke  xvi.  19. 

3  The  writer  of  the  Apocal)fpse  employs  the  cognate  word  jSvaaLVOi  instead 
of  fivcrao^.    IntheTextus  Receptus,  however,  /3ii(t<toc  occurs  once  (Rev.  xviii.  12). 

4  Rev.  xix.  8. 

5  The  bkill  to  which  the  Egyptians  had  attained  in  the  manufactiue  of  this 
cloth  may  be  better  appreciated  after  reading  the  description  by  Wilkinson  of  some 
specimens  of  it.  We  copy  a  portion  of  what  he  says  of  one  piece  found  near 
Memphis  :  "Some  idea  may  be  given  of  its  texture,  from  the  number  of  threads 
in  the  inch,  which  is  540  (or  270  double  threads)  in  the  warp;  and  the  limited 
proportion  of  no  in  the  woof  shows  the  justness  of  Mr.  Thomson's  observation 
that  this  disparity  belonged  to  their  system  of  manufacture,  since  it  is  observable 
even  in  the  finest  quality  of  cloth." 


t8  history  of  the  tabernacle. 

curtains  were  to  be  made,  was  intrusted,  as  was  also  the 
spinning  of  colored  thread  to  be  inwoven  with  the  white, 
to  the  most  intelligent  women  to  be  found  in  all  the 
tribes  ;  or,  as  the  English  version  has  it,  to  "  the  women 
that  were  wise-hearted."  The  thread  thus  spun  was 
woven  into  webs  of  cloth  six  feet  wide,  and  forty-two  feet 
long.  Of  these  webs  there  were  ten,  each  being  of  the 
length  appointed  for  a  curtain ;  and  into  each  piece  were 
woven  figures  of  cherubs  in  threads  of  blue,  purple,  and 
crimson.^  Of  the  significance  of  the  figures  thus  woven 
into  the  white  curtains  of  the  tabernacle,  this  is  not  the 
time  to  speak ;  but  the  figures  themselves  we  would 
gladly  describe,  were  there  any  certain  knowledge  to  be 
obtained  of  their  form  and  size.  The  direction  to  make 
cherubs  is  given  as  .if  those  who  were  to  execute  the 
work  were  already  acquainted  with  such  figures,  and 
would  understand  what  was  required  without  further 
specification.  But  such  knowledge  has  not  been  trans- 
mitted to  us ;  and  we  can  find  in  other  parts  of  Scripture 
only  a  few  hints  to  aid  the  eye  of  imagination  in  gaining 
a  true  picture  of  the  figures  wrought,  in  bright  and  beau- 
tiful colors,  into  the  tapestry  visible  in  the  interior  of  the 
tabernacle. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  were  unlike  any 
beings  having  actual  existence.  They  seem  to  have  been 
symbolic  in  their  import,  and,  as  such,  to  have  combined 
in  their  forms  features  taken  from  different  parts  of  the 
animal  kingdom.  Ezekiel  saw  in  vision,  and  describes, 
cherubs,  which  he  also  calls  "living  creatures,"  having 
each  four  faces,  —  the  face  of  a  man,  the  face  of  a  lion,  the 
face  of  an  ox,  and  the  face  of  an  eagle.     His  description 

1  For  the  evidence  that  a  crimson,  and  not  a  scarlet  red  is  denoted  by  the 
word  which  the  English  version  renders  "scarlet,"  see  p.  217. 


THE  EDIFICE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  19 

is  more  specific  than  any  other  which  has  come  down  to 
us  ;  and  yet  that  which  John  gives,  in  the  Apocalypse,  of 
the  "  living  creatures  "  seen  by  him  in  a  vision  of  heaven, 
is  sufficiently  so  to  justify  the  belief  that  there  was  some 
diversity,  as  well  as  a  general  agreement,  in  the  form 
of  these  symbols.  In  all  of  them  there  seems  to  have 
been  a  combination  of  parts  taken  from  the  four  animals 
mentioned  above,  and  at  the  same  time  a  preponderance 
of  the  human  element.  Now,  the  lion  being  a  symbol  of 
majesty  and  strength,  the  ox  of  patient  obedience  and 
service,  and  the  eagle  of  keenness  of  vision  and  celerity 
of  motion,  it  is  at  least  a  plausible  hypothesis,  that  all 
cherubic  figures,  however  they  might  differ  in  minor 
points,  representee'  man  as  improved  by  the  addition 
of  these  qualities,  and  thus  fitted  to  dwell  in  the  habi- 
tation of  God.  The  cherubs  which  Moses  was  directed 
to  weave  into  the  tapestry  of  the  tabernacle,  as  well 
as  those  made  of  gold  to  stand  on  the  mercy-seat,  were, 
perhaps,  in  the  main,  figures  of  the  human  form,  but 
modified  by  the  addition  of  parts  copied  from  the  lion, 
the  ox,  and  the  eagle.  If,  however,  any  thing  can  be 
inferred  in  regard  to  the  Hebrew  cherub  from  the 
combination  of  different  animals  by  the  Assyrians  and 
Egyptians,  it  may  have  selected  from  man  only  his  head, 
from  the  eagle  his  wings,  from  the  lion  his  neck  and 
mane,  and  copied  the  remainder  of  its  figure  from  the  ox. 
The  size  of  the  figures  on  the  tapestry,  we  have  no. 
data  for  determining ;  but  the  two  cherubs  of  solid  gold 
which  stood  on  the  mercy-seat  must  have  been  much  less 
than  life-size,  since  the  ark  was  only  three  feet  and  nine 
inches  in  length,  and  there  must  have  been  considerable 
space   between   the  cherubs  for  the  pillar  of   cloud  in 


20  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

which  Jehovah  manifested  his  presence.  Moreover,  if 
the  figures  had  been  equal  to  men  in  height,  it  would  have 
been  impossible  for  the  Levites  to  carry  the  ark  thus  bur- 
dened from  station  to  station  when  the  encampment  was 
removed.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  cherubs  pictured 
on  the  hangings  were  of  equal  size  with  the  two  small 
cherubic  images  which  stood  on  th£  mercy-seat. 

Of  these  ten  curtains,  five  were  fastened  together  into 
one  piece,  and  the  other  five  into  one  piece,  by  sewing 
the  selvage  of  one  curtain  to  the  selvage  of  another, 
making  two  larger  curtains  each  forty-two  feet  by  thirty 
feet.  To  one  side  of  each  of  these  larger  curtains,  fifty 
loops  were  attached  at  intervals  of  about  nine  inches,  so 
that  the  two  might  be  joined  together  by  studs  of  gold 
"  into  one  tabernacle." 

There  has  been  much  dispute  whether  the  tabernacle 
formed  of  these  ten  webs  of  drapery  was  suspended 
within,  or  laid  over,  the  frame  of  acacia-wood.  Recent 
writers  have  generally  followed  Bahr  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  was  suspended  in  the  interior.  His  argument  is, 
that  this  cloth  of  tapestry  was  regarded  as  par  excellence 
the  tabernacle,  or  habitation  of  God,  that  name  being  ap- 
plied to  it  specifically,  and  that  it  is  therefore  improbable 
it  would  be  allowed  to  hang  concealed  between  the  frame 
and  the  over-curtain ;.  that  this  tapestry  was  exceedingly 
precious  by  reason  both  of  its  material,  and  of  the 
amount  of  labor  and  skill  bestowed  on  it,  so  that  it  would 
be  an  incredible  waste  to  hang  it  where  only  about  one- 
fourth  part  of  it  would  fulfil  the  purpose  for  which  such 
ornamentation  is  designed ;  that  the  figures  of  cherubs 
wrought  into  this  tapestry  were  such  as  covered  the  in- 
terior walls  of  the  temple  in  later  times ;  and,  finally,  that 


Fig.  7. 

THE  TWO    EQUAL  PARTS  OF    "  THE   TABERXACLE"  OR 

INNERMOST  CURTAIN. 


THE  EDIFICE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  21 

there  is  no  satisfactory  way  in  which  the  drapery  could 
be  held  in  place  if  it  hung  on  the  outside,  while  it  might 
easily  be  suspended  from  hooks  within.  He  compla- 
cently adds,  that  any  one  of  these  four  reasons  is  suffi- 
cient, but  that  jointly  they  put  the  matter  fully  beyond 
doubt^ 

There  is  great  force,  however,  in  the  argument  with 
which  Friederich  opposes  this  view.  He  claims  that  it  is 
more  natural,  and  more  consistent  with  the  specifications 
furnished  to  Moses,  and  with  his  description  of  the  edi- 
fice, to  conceive  of  this  innermost  curtain  as  falling  down 
on  the  outside  like  the  curtains  above  it ;  since,  if  it  were 
to  cover  the  inside  of  the  walls,  there  would  have  been 
some  intimation  to  that  effect,  which  he  cannot  see  in 
the  application  to  it  of  the  term  "  tabernacle"  since  this 
would  be  justified  by  the  tapestry  at  the  top  as  truly  as 
if  it  hung  down  on  the  sides ;  that,  however  rich  and 
beautiful  the  tapestry  might  be,  it  was  no  more  so  than 
the  gilded  pillars  of  acacia,  which  it  would  conceal  if  sus- 
pended in  the  interior;  that  Solomon's  Temple  was 
inwardly  covered  with  gold,  and  not  with  drapery ;  that 
Philo  and  Josephus  agree  in  testifying  that  the  tapestry 
was  on  the  outside ;  and  that  the  passage  in  Exodus 
which  directs  that  "  a  cubit  on  the  one  side,  and  a  cubit 
on  the  other  side  of  that  which  remaineth  in  the  length 
of  the  second  curtain,  shall  hang  over  the  sides  of  the 
tabernacle  on  this  side  and  on  that  side,  to  cover  it,"  ^  can 
be  explained  only  on  the  supposition  that  the  first  cur- 
tain hung  down  on  the  outside  of  the  framework.^ 

1  Symbolik  des  Mosaischen  Cultus.  Heidelberg,  1S37.  Vol.  i.  p.  63. 

2  Exod.  xxvi.  13. 

3  Friederich:  Symbolik  der  Mosaischen  Stiftshiitte.  Leipzig,  1841.  P.  13.  It 
is  pleasant  to  give  credit  for  so  strong  an  argument  to  a  writer  who  has  been  so 
unfortunate  in  his  attempt  to  interpret  the  symbolism  of  the  tabernacle. 


22  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

The  argument  of  Riggenbach,  on  the  same  side  of  the 
question,  is,  if  possible,  still  more  conclusive.  He  turns 
the  fact  that  the  innermost  curtain  was  called  tJie  taber- 
nacle against  the  very  position  which  Bahr  would  estab- 
lish by  means  of  it ;  maintaining  that  the  second  curtain 
would  not  have  been  called  a  covering  upon  the  taberna- 
cle unless  the  tabernacle  had  been  outside  of  the  frame ; 
and  that  by  such  an  arrangement  only  would  the  excess 
in  the  measure  of  the  second  curtain  over  the  first, 
namely,  half  a  web  at  the  rear,  and  a  cubit  on  each  side, 
hang  over  tJie  tabernacle  to  cover  or  protect  it.  The  pas- 
sage appealed  to  reads,  "And  the  remnant  that  remaineth 
of  the  curtains  of  the  tent,  the  half  curtain  that  re- 
maineth, shall  hang  over  the  back  side  of  the  tabernacle ; 
and  a  cubit  on  the  one  side,  and  a  cubit  on  the  other  side 
of  that  which  remaineth  in  the  length  of  the  curtains  of 
the  tent,  it  shall  hang  over  the  sides  of  the  tabernacle  on 
this  side  and  on  that  side,  to  cover  it."  ^ 

Probably  the  disposition  now  prevalent  to  conceive  of 
the  inner  curtain  of  the  tabernacle  as  hanging  down  on 
the  inside  proceeds  from  respect  for  Bahr  as  an  author- 
ity, rather  than  from  respect  for  his  argument  on  this 
point.  There  is  nothing  new  in  the  position  he  takes, 
or  in  the  allegations  with  which  he  supports  it.  Lund 
had  discussed  the  question,  weighed  the  arguments,  and 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  inner  curtain  was  laid 
over  the  wooden  framework.  All  the  world  rested  in 
such  a  belief  till  Bahr  revived  an  old  and  abandoned 
suggestion,  and  gave  it  the  weight  of  his  authority. 

The  article  "  Temple,"  in  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary, 
presents  a  plan  of  the  disposition  of  the  curtains  of  the 

1  Exod.  xxvi.  12,  13. 


THE  EDIFICE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  23 

tabernacle,  which  has  at  least  the  merit  of  novelty.  Fer- 
gusson,  the  writer  of  the  article,  is  a  professional  architect, 
and  proposes  to  reconstruct  the  sacred  edifice  according 
to  the  rules  of  his  art.  He  says,  "  Every  important  di- 
mension was  either  five  cubits,  or  a  multiple  of  five  cubits  ; 
and  all  the  arrangements  in  plan  were  either  squares,  or 
double  squares :  so  that  there  really  is  no  difficulty  in 
putting  the  whole  together ;  and  none  would  ever  have 
occurred,  were  it  not  that  the  dimensions  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, as  obtained  from  the  'boards'  that  formed  its 
walls,  appear  at  first  sight  to  be  one  thing,  while  those 
obtained  from  the  dimensions  of  the  curtains  which  cov- 
ered it  appear  to  give  another ;  and  no  one  has  yet  suc- 
ceeded in  reconciling  these  with  one  another,  or  with  the 
text  of  Scripture."  He  mentions  the  common  theory 
according  to  which  the  curtains  are  laid  over  the  walls  as 
"  a  pall  is  thrown  over  a  coffin,"  and  the  difficulties  which 
seem  to  him  to  accompany  it,  and  proceeds,  "  The  solu- 
tion appears  singularly  obvious.  It  is  simply,  that  the 
tent  had  a  ridge,  as  all  tents  have  had  from  the  days  of 
Moses  down  to  the  present  day ;  and  we  have  also  very 
little  difficulty  in  predicating  that  the  angle  formed  by 
the  two  sides  of  the  roof  at  the  ridge  was  a  right  angle, 
not  only  because  it  is  a  reasonable  and  usual  angle  for 
such  a  roof,  and  one  that  would  most  likely  be  adopted 
in  so  regular  a  building,  but  because  its  adoption  reduces 
to  harmony  the  only  abnormal  measurement  in  the  whole 
building.  As  mentioned  above,  the  principal  curtains 
were  only  28  cubits  in  length,  and  consequently  not  a 
multiple  of  5  ;  but,  if  we  assume  a  right  angle  at  the 
ridge,  each  side  of  the  slope  was  14  cubits;  and  14^ -j- 
142  z=  392,  and  20^  =  400,  two  numbers  which  are  practi- 


5 


24  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

cally  identical  in  tent-building.  The  base  of  the  triangle, 
therefore,  formed  by  the  roof,  was  20  cubits ;  or,  in  other 
words,  the  roof  of  the  tabernacle  extended  5  cubits  be- 
yond the  walls,  not  only  in  front  and  rear,  but  on  both 
sides." 

He  thinks  that  this  space  of  five  cubits  was  enclosed 
so  as  to  correspond  with  the  chambers  around  the 
temple  of  Solomon ;  alleging  this  correspondence  as  one 
argument,  but  depending  also  on  the  plural  form  of  the 
word  "sides','  when  applied  to  the  rear  end  of  the  edifice. 
But  this  last  argument  disappears  on  consulting  a  He- 
brew lexicon ;  the  word  translated  " sides"  or,  more  fre- 
quently, "  tzvo  sides"  meaning  primarily  thighs,  and  there- 
fore being  in  the  dual  number.  Secondarily,  it  meant 
the  hinder  parts,  the  back.  This  argument  failing,  that 
of  correspondence  with  the  temple  is  not  sufficient  to 
command  assent  in  the  total  silence  both  of  tradition 
and  of  Scripture  respecting  such  an  exterior  addition  to 
the  tabernacle. 

But,  dropping  this  part  of  his  hypothesis  as  unworthy 
of  further  consideration,  it  still  remains  to  examine  his 
plan  for  the  arrangement  of  the  curtains  over  a  ridge- 
pole seventy-five  feet  in  length,  and  twenty-two  feet  and 
a  half  higher  than  the  sill.  One  fatal  objection  to  such 
an  arrangement  is,  that,  according  to  the  direction  given 
to  Moses,  the  partition-veil  was  to  be  hung  "  under  the 
taches,"  ^  or  studs,  which  united  the  two  divisions  of  the 
innermost  curtain ;  but,  according  to  this  plan,  it  would 
hang  just  half  way  from  front  to  rear,  leaving  the  two, 
apartments  of  equal  size.  Until  this  objection  is  re- 
moved, we   need   not   spend   time   to   speak   of    others 

1  Exod.  xxvi.  T,i. 


0 


THE  EDIFICE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  25 

which  might  be  alleged,  as  the  plan  is  only  a  new 
hypothesis  proposed  as  a  substitute  for  one  encumbered 
with  less  serious  difficulties. 

The  partition-veil,  to  which  we  have  just  had  occasion 
to  allude,  was  exactly  similar  in  material  and  workman- 
ship to  the  tapestry  which,  like  a  ceiling,  was  to  cover 
the  two  apartments  at  the  top.  The  four  pillars  in- 
tended for  its  support  were  to  be  arranged  in  a  line 
across  the  edifice  at  the  distance  of  fifteen  feet  from  the 
west  end,  and  thirty  feet  from  the  east  end  ;  so  that  the 
tapestry  would  display  on  either  side  the  cherubs  woven 
into  it  in  the  three  bright  and  beautiful  colors  which 
have  been  specified.  Nothing  is  more  certain,  in  regard 
to  the  tabernacle,  than  that  the  two  apartments  into 
which  it  was  divided  by  this  partition-veil  were  of  une- 
qual size ;  the  eastern  being  thirty  feet  long  and  fifteen 
wide,  and  the  western  an  exact  cube  of  fifteen  feet  in 
dimension.  The  larger  apartment  is  commonly  called 
the  lioly  place,  and  the  smaller  the  holy  of  holies. 

The  entrance-curtain,  though  somewhat  similar  to  that 
which  hung  between  the  two  apartments,  was  not  per- 
fectly so ;  as  there  is  no  mention  of  cherubs  either  in  the 
directions  for  making  it,  or  in  the  description  of  it  when 
made.  It  was  of  similar  material,  being  woven,  like  all 
the  hangings  visible  within,  of  the  fine  white  linen 
which  the  Hebrews  called  shesh,  variegated  with  blue, 
purple,  and  crimson.  It  is  described  in  the  English  ver- 
sion as  wrought  with  the  needle,  or  embroidered ;  but 
the  word  rendered  "  needle-work "  is  now  believed  to 
denote  a  striped  or  checked  pattern  produced  by  the 
loom.  Probably  the  only  difference  between  this  and 
the  inner  curtain  was  that  the  colors  appeared  on  this  in 


26  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

stripes  or  checks,  instead  of  being  wrought  into  figures 
of  cherubs,  as  on  the  other.^  It  was  suspended  from 
five  pillars,  as  the  other  was  from  four. 

The  second  covering  of  the  sacred  habitation  was  of 
goat's  hair,  the  material  commonly  if  not  universally 
used  for  tent-cloth  among  the  Arabs  of  the  present  day, 
and  doubtless  employed  for  the  same  purpose  among  the 
Hebrews  in  their  journey  from  Egypt  to  Canaan.  The 
goat's  hair  used  in  the  manufacture  of  this  tent-cloth 
retains  the  black  color  which  it  has  by  nature  ;  so  that 
the  tents  of  the  natives  are  easily  distinguished  from 
those  of  European  travellers.  They  make  a  picturesque 
appearance,  justifying  the  illustration  used  in  the  Song 
of  Songs  :  "  I  am  black,  but  comely,  O  ye  daughters  of 
Jerusalem,  as  the  tents  of  Kedar."  The  domestic  taber- 
nacles of  the  Israelites  being  of  this  black  cloth  of 
goat's  hair,  the  tabernacle  of  Jehovah  was  distinguished 
from  them  by  being  made  of  very  white  and  fine  linen, 
variegated  with  bright  and  beautiful  colors.  But  this 
fabric,  unsuitable  by  its  delicacy  for  exposure  to  the 
weather,  was  covered  with  cloth  of  goat's  hair  similar  to 
that  of  which  the  thousands  of  tents  pitched  around  it 
were  made.  Black  has,  however,  seemed  to  some  so 
unsuitable  for  an  edifice  in  which  color  had  symbolic 
significance,  that  they  maintain  that  the  hair-  of  white 
goats,  or  at  least  of  some  other  than  the  common  black 
goats,  was  used  in  this  particular  instance. 

1  The  Dp.'^  and  the  3^n  were  both  weavers  in  colors  ;  the  latter  producing  in 
his  web  figures  of  iiTegular  shape  such  as  the  cherubs  on  the  inner  curtain  and  the 
partition-veil.  The  DP '^probably  produced  figures  of  regular  shape,  like  stripes 
and  checks.  See  Gesenius  on  the  two  words  ;  also  Keil  and  Delitzsch's  Comm.  on 
Pentateuch,  vol,  ii.  pp.  176, 182. 


Fu;.  8. 
THE  TWO  PARTS  OF  THE  SECOND  CURTAIN. 


THE  EDIFICE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  27 

This  covering  of  goat's  hair  consisted  of  eleven 
pieces,  each  forty-five  feet  long  and  six  feet  wide.  Like 
the  curtains  of  tapestry  underneath,  they  were  sewed 
together  on  their  selvages  so  as  to  form  two  larger 
pieces,  which,  again,  were  joined  with  loops  and  studs 
into  one.  But  the  studs,  which  in  the  other  case  were  of 
gold,  were  in  this  case  of  a  less  precious  metal,  which  in 
the  English  version  is  called  brass,  but  was  probably 
copper.  The  two  pieces  of  hair-cloth  thus  fastened 
together  with  loops  and  studs  were  not  of  equal  dimen- 
sions, as  the  two  divisions  of  the  tapestry  under  it  were ; 
for  one  consisted  of  six,  and  the  other  of  five  webs. 
The  larger  division  was  to  cover  the  outer  apartment ; 
the  web  in  front  being  folded  over  so  as  to  be  of  double 
thickness.  Whether  this  doubled  web  projected  beyond 
the  under  curtain,  it  is  not  possible  to  determine  with 
certainty.  On  the  whole,  it  seems  probable  that  this 
was  the  arrangement,  a  margin  of  hair-cloth  thus  pro- 
tecting the  tapestry  on  this  border  as  on  the  others. 
On  the  sides  the  hair-cloth  reached  down  nearly,  but  not 
quite  to  the  sill ;  the  deficiency  being  equal  to  the  thick- 
ness of  the  frame,  whatever  that  may  have  been.  Being 
three  feet,  or  two  cubits,  longer  than  the  tapestry,  the 
marginal  surplus  was,  of  course,  just  one  cubit  on  each 
side. 

The  third  and  fourth  coverings  were  of  leather.  The 
third  was  of  sheep-skins,  dyed  red  like  the  leather  we  call 
morocco.  The  account  of  it  is  very  brief,  and  nothing  is 
said  of  its  dimensions ;  but  it  was  doubtless  large  enough 
to  cover  entirely  the  cloth  of  goat's  hair.  The  fourth  was 
probably  of  skins  of  the  badger  or  of  the  seal,  which  were 
perhaps  tanned  so  as  to  give  a  bluish  appearance  to  the 


28  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

edifice;  for  Josephus  says,  that,  to  those  who  viewed 
these  outer  curtains  at  a  distance,  they  seemed  not  at  all 
to  differ  from  the  color  of  the  sky.  The  Septuagint,  and 
other  ancient  versions,  understand  the  Hebrew  word 
which  our  English  translators  have  rendered  "  <^rt^-^;' "  as 
denoting  a  blue  color ;  but  Gesenius  says  that  this  is 
mere  conjecture,  having  no  support  in  the  etymology  or 
in  the  kindred  dialects,  and  that  the  Talmudists  and 
Hebrew  interpreters  almost  unanimously  hold  that  the 
word  denotes  an  animal.  To  this  view  he  accedes,  and 
suggests  that  the  Hebrews  perhaps  applied  this  name  to 
the  badger,  the  seal,  and  other  like  animals,  not  distin- 
guishing accurately  between  them.  This  outer  curtain 
was  doubtless  fastened  to  the  ground  by  means  of  cords 
and  pins,  so  as  to  secure  it,  and,  at  the  same  time,  those 
under  it,  from  the  violence  of  the  winds.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that,  in  pleasant  weather,  the  two  outer  coverings 
were  sometimes  folded,  or  entirely  removed,  so  as  to  show 
the  cloth  of  goat's  hair,  in  which  the  dwelling  of  Jehovah 
resembled  the  dwellings  of  his  people ;  the  coverings  of 
leather  being  extrinsic  to  the  idea  of  the  sanctuary,  and 
designed  for  its  greater  security  at  times  when  such 
protection  might  be  useful.  This  view  corresponds  with 
the  usage  of  the  writer  of  Exodus  in  respect  to  the  terms 
he  applies  to  the  four  coverings  respectively :  the  two 
outer  being  coverings  in  a  general  sense ;  the  cloth  of 
goat's  hair  being  designated  by  the  name  applied  to  the 
tents  of  the  people  ;  and  the  inner  drapery  of  tapestry 
being  distinguished  by  a  word  signifying  dwelling,  or 
habitation. 

The  several  parts  of  the  sanctuary,  as  above  described,, 
having  been  constructed,  it  still  remained  to  make  an 


THE  EDIFICE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  29 

enclosure  for  the  court  in  which  it  was  to  stand.  The 
prescribed  dimensions  of  this  area  were  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  for  the  length,  and  seventy-five  feet  for  the 
width.  It  was  to  be  enclosed  with  hangings  of  cloth 
made  of  the  fine  Avhite  linen  mentioned  above,  not  inter- 
woven, like  the  curtains  of  the  tabernacle,  with  figures 
and  colors,  but,  so  far  as  appears,  woven  plain.  That 
portion  of  it,  however,  which  covered  the  entrance-way 
at  the  east  ,end  of  the  court,  was  variegated  with  '  colors 
of  blue,  purple,  and  crimson.^  The  height  of  these  hang- 
ings was  seven  feet  and  a  half ;  and  they  were  suspended 
on  pillars  by  means  of  silver  hooks,  the  pillars  standing 
on  sills  of  copper.  In  the  absence  of  positive  knowledge, 
it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  pillars  were  of  acacia- 
wood,  and  not  larger  than  was  needful  for  the  service 
they  were  to  render.  The  English  version  in  one  place  ^ 
conveys  the  idea  that  the  pillars,  as  well  as  the  sockets  or 
sills  on  which  they  stood,  were  of  metal ;  but  this  is  evi- 
dently a  mistake.  The  Hebrew  original  gives  no  defini- 
tive information  concerning  the  material  of  which  they 
were  made.  It  is  said,  however,  that  their  capitals  were 
overlaid  with  silver ;  and,  from  this,  one  might  infer  that, 
as  wood  was  the  material  on  which  gold  was  laid,  so  the 
capitals  beneath  the  silver  plate  were  of  wood.  The 
number  of  them  is  specified  as  twenty  on  each  side,  and 
ten  on  each  end ;  which,  unless  those  at  the  corners  are 
twice  counted,  would  give  a  total  of  sixty.     They  must 

lit  seems  improbable  that  needle-work  would  have  been  expended  on  the 
drapery  of  the  court,  and  not  on  the  curtains  of  the  house  itself,  and  the  word  Dp'^ 
which  the  English  translators  regarded  as  the  equivalent  of  to  embroider,  signifies, 
of  itself,  to  variegate,  leaving  it  undecided  whether  the  work  were  done  in  the 
loom,  or  with  the  needle. 

2  Exod.  xxvii.  10. 


30  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

have  been  placed,  therefore,  at  intervals  of  seven  feet  and 
a  half;  or,  in  other  words,  the  distance  between  the 
pillars  was  equal  to  the  height  of  the  hangings.  They 
were  connected  by  a  silver  rod,  or  fillet,  extending  from 
one  capital  to  another. 

The  tabernacle  was  to  stand  near  the  western  end  of 
this  enclosure,  and  midway,  doubtless,  between  its  north- 
ern and  southern  curtains.  A  large  area  was  therefore 
left  in  front  of  the  edifice  for  the  performance  of  those 
rites  of  worship  which  were  appropriate  to  the  place. 

The  several  parts  of  the  sanctuary  itself,  and  of  the 
screen  by  which  its  court  was  to  be  secured  from  the 
tread  and  gaze  of  the  multitude,  being  now  prepared,  we 
proceed,  in  the  next  chapter,  to  describe  the  furniture 
which  Moses  was  required  to  provide  for  the  building 
and  for  its  court 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   FURNITURE   OF   THE   TABERNACLE. 

Of  all  the  appurtenances  of  the  tabernacle,  the  highest 
in  the  estimation  of  the  Hebrews  was  a  chest  of  acacia- 
wood  three  feet  and  nine  inches  in  length,  m^  foot  and 
three  inches  both  in  width  and  in  height,  plated  within 
and  without  with  gold,  which  they  called  the  ark. 

Around  it  was  a  band  of  gold  called  a  crown.  This 
name  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  band  was  wrought 
in  imitation  of  leaves  and  flowers,  a  crown  having  origin- 
ally consisted  of  such  materials,  and  having  retained  the 
semblance  of  them  when  the  perishable  chaplet  gave 
place  to  the  unfading  gold.  The  specifications  do  not 
state  how  far  from  the  base  of  the  ark  this  crown 
was  attached ;  and  some  have  assumed  that,  as  a  croivn,  it 
must  necessarily  have  been  placed  at  the  top.  But 
a  crown,  or  that  which  is  translated  "  crown,"  was  not,  in 
the  conception  of  the  ancients,  necessarily  placed  at  the 
head,  or  superior  extremity  of  an  object.  It  was  merely 
a  cincture  of  living  foliage,  or  of  gold  wrought  to  imi- 
tate such  symbols  of  life.  When  put  upon  a  person,  his 
head  would  be  the  only  right  place  for  it ;  but  the  pro- 
priety of  placing  it  there  is  evidently  founded  in  the 
nature  of  man  rather  than  of   the  symbol.     It  was  a 

31 


32  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

practice  of  the  heathen  to  adorn  their  altars  with  gar- 
lands and  flowers,  which  apparently  were  not  placed 
around  the  upper  edge,  but  lower  down  in  horizontal  fil- 
lets or  in  festoons.  We  are  not  shut  up,  therefore,  to  the 
necessity  of  believing  that  the  crown  was  attached  to  the 
ark  at  its  upper  edge  to  keep  its  lid  in  place,  as  some 
have  assumed.  It  may  have  been  an  ornamental  band 
of  gold,  wrought  in  imitation  of  leaves  and  flowers,  and 
attached  just  above  the  rings  and  staves,  by  means 
of  which  the  ark  was  borne  from  place  to  place.  This 
seems  probable  when  we  learn  that  the  rings  of  the  altar 
of  incense  were  just  beneath  the  similar  ornament  with 
which  that  utensil  was  surrounded.  If  such  was  the 
position  of  the  crown  of  the  ark,  the  lid  doubtless  had  a 
band  of  its  own  to  finish  its  edge,  and  hold  it  in  place. 

The  rings  just  mentioned  were  of  solid  metal,  like  the 
ornamental  cincture,  and  four  in  number,  one  at  each 
corner.  They  held  in  place  two  staves  of  acacia-wood 
overlaid  with  gold,  by  means  of  which  the  Levites  might 
bear  the  ark  on  their  shoulders.  In  the  absence  of 
specific  information,  we  may  conjecture  that  the  rings 
were  nearer  the  bottom  than  the  top,  the  honor  due  to 
the  instruments  of  holy  ministration  requiring  that  they 
should  be  exalted  as  high  above  the  shoulders  of  the " 
bearers  as  was  consistent  with  evenness  of  motion. 
A  reader  of  the  English  version  might  infer  that  the 
staves  were  parallel  with  the  longer  sides  of  the  ark  ;  but 
the  original  does  not  determine  how  they  were  put  into 
the  rings,  and  decorum  seems  to  require  that  they  should 
be  inserted  so  as  to  carry  the  front  of  the  ark  toward  the 
front  of  the  caravan.  The  staves,  unlike  those  belonging 
to   the   other   utensils  of   the  tabernacle,  must  not  be 


Fig.  <).  W 

ARK  OF  THE  COVENANT  ACCORDING  TO  NEUMANN 


Fh;.  lo. 
ARK  OF  THE  COVKNANT  WITH  ITS  CROWN   PI.ACEI» 
MIDWAY   FROM   TOP  TO  BOTTOM. 


THE  FURNITURE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  ^t, 

removed  from  their  rings,  but  remain  in  place  while  the 
ark  was  at  rest. 

The  lid  of  the  ark  was  of  pure,  solid  gold ;  and  two 
cherubs  of  the  same  material  stood  upon  it,  one  at  each 
end,  face  to  face,  and  stretching  forth  their  wings  over 
the  ark.  The  position  and  attitude  of  these  figures 
make  it  necessary  to  infer  that  they  were  of  small  size ; 
but  their  exact  measure  is  not  known.  This  golden 
cover  was  called  the  mercy-seat,  or  throne  of  grace ;  and 
is  sometimes  mentioned  by  this  name,  as  if  it  were  some- 
thing independent  of  the  ark.  More  frequently,  how- 
ever, it  is  in  some  way  connected  with  the  sacred  coffer 
beneath.  Upon  it,  when  the  ark  had  been  deposited  in 
its  appointed  place  within  the  sanctuary,  rested  a  pillar 
of  cloud,  as  the  visible  manifestation  of  that  invisible 
being  known  in  Israel  by  the  name  "  Jehovah  of  hosts 
that  dwelleth  between  the  cherubim."  ^  It  was  in  par- 
ticular what  the  whole  tabernacle  was,  the  dwelling-place 
of  Jehovah,  the  place  where  he  would  meet  his  people ; 
it  was  the  point  in  which  the  significance  of  the  whole 
institution  centred.  In  the  specifications,  Jehovah  says 
to  Moses,  as  the  representative  of  the  covenant  people, 
"  There  will  I  meet  with  thee  ;  and  I  will  commune  with 
thee  from  above  the  mercy-seat,  from  between  the  two 
cherubim  which  are  upon  the  ark  of  the  testimony."  ^ 

Within  the  ark  were  deposited,  according  to  the  direc- 
tion given  to  Moses,  the  two  tablets  of  stone  on  which 
Jehovah  had  written,  with  his  own  finger,  the  words  of 
the  Ten  Commandments  proclaimed  on  Sinai,  out  of  the 
midst  of  the  fire,  the  cloud,  and  the  thick  darkness. 
These  commandments  being  called  sometimes  the  testi- 

1  2  Sam.  vi.  2.  2  Exod.  xxv.  22. 


34  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

mony,  because  they  testified  of  the  character  and  will  of 
God  ;  and  at  other  times  tJie  covenant,  because  they  were 
at  the  foundation  of  that  mutual  engagement  by  which 
Jehovah  was  the  God  of  the  Hebrews,  and  they  were  his 
people,  —  the  coffer  which  contained  the  tablets  was  called 
the  ark  of  the  testimony,  and  also  the  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant. 

There  has  been  a  difference  of  opinion  on  the  question 
whether  the  ark  contained  any  thing  more  than  the  two 
tablets  of  stone.  The  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews says  that  the  innermost  apartment  of  the  tabernacle 
"  had  the  golden  censer,  and  the  ark  of  the  covenant  over- 
laid round  about  with  gold,  wherein  was  the  golden  pot  that 
had  manna,  and  Aaron's  rod  that  budded,  and  the  tables 
of  the  covenant ;  and  over  it  the  cherubim  of  glory 
shadowing  the  mercy-seat."  ^  But  in  the  First  Book  of  the 
Kings  it  is  written,  "  There  was  nothing  in  the  ark  save 
the  two  tables  of  stone,  which  Moses  put  there  at  Horeb, 
when  the  Lord  made  a  covenant  with  the  children  of 
Israel."  ^  If  inspiration  is  of  such  a  nature  that  not  even 
the  least  discrepancy  may  be  allowed  in  those  who  claim 
to  be  inspired,  these  two  statements  may  be  reconciled 
on  the  theory  that  the  passage  in  the  First  Book  of  the 
Kings  testifies  only  of  what  was  true  on  the  day  when' 
the  ark  was  deposited,  with  suitable  public  ceremonies,  in 
the  temple.  Consistently  with  that  testimony,  it  may  be 
true,  that,  at  an  earlier  period,  the  pot  of  manna,  and 
the  rod  which  blossomed,  were  laid  up  in  the  ark  with 
the  tablets  of  stone.  There  is  nothing,  however,  in  the 
Old  Testament  to  substantiate  such  a  supposition.  The 
original  record  concerning  the  pot  of  manna  reads  as 

1  Heb.  ix.  4,  5.  2  i  Kings  viii.  9. 


THE  FURNITURE    OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  35 

follows  :  "  And  Moses  said  unto  Aaron,  Take  a  pot,  and 
put  an  omer  full  of  manna  therein,  and  lay  it  up  before 
the  Lord,  to  be  kept  for  your  generations.  As  the  Lord 
commanded  Moses,  so  Aaron  laid  it  up  before  the  testi- 
mony, to  be  kept."  ^  As  respects  Aaron's  rod,  the  nar- 
rative is  in  these  words :  "  And  Moses  spake  unto  the 
children  of  Israel,  and  every  one  of  their  princes  gave 
him  a  rod  apiece,  for  each  prince  one,  according  to  their 
fathers'  houses,  even  twelve  rods ;  and  the  rod  of  Aaron 
was  among  their  rods.  And  Moses  laid  up  the  rods  be- 
fore the  Lord  in  the  tabernacle  of  witness.  And  it  came 
to  pass,  that  on  the  morrow  Moses  went  into  the  taber- 
nacle of  witness ;  and,  behold,  the  rod  of  Aaron  for  the 
house  of  Levi  was  budded,  and  brought  forth  buds,  and 
bloomed  blossoms,  and  yielded  almonds.  And  Moses 
brought  out  all  the  rods  from  before  the  Lord  unto  all 
the  children  of  Israel ;  and  they  looked,  and  took  every 
man  his  rod.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Bring 
Aaron's  rod  again  before  the  testimony,  to  be  kept  for  a 
token  against  the  rebels."  ^ 

From  these  quotations,  it  appears  that  the  rod  and  the 
manna  were  deposited  near,  but  not  within,  the  ark  of 
the  testimony.  But  even  this  account  does  not  forbid 
the  supposition  that  afterward  they  were  kept  within  the 
ark,  till,  in  some  way  unknown  to  us,  they  were  lost.  On 
such  an  hypothesis,  the  passage  quoted  from  the  First 
Book  of  the  Kings  has  a  deeper  significance  than  if  the 
ark  had  never  contained  any  thing  but  the  tablets  of 
stone. 

The  appointed  place  for  the  ark  of  the  covenant  was 
in  the  holy  of  holies ;  where  it  probably  stood  in  the  mid- 

1  Exod.  xvi.  T,T„  34.  2  Num.  xvii.  6-10. 


36  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

die  of  the  chamber,  with  the  longer  sides  toward  the  east 
and  the  west  respectively,  and  the  cherubs  looking  north- 
ward and  southward,  toward  each  other.  Besides  the 
ark  of  the  covenant  with  its  contents,  and  the  vessel 
containing  manna,  nothing  was  placed  in  the  inner  cham- 
ber at  the  time  when  the  sanctuary  was  erected.  The 
ark,  with  the  mercy-seat,  was  all  which  Moses  was  di- 
rected to  make  for  this  apartment.  We  shall  be  ready, 
therefore,  to  pass  to  the  furniture  constructed  for  the 
outer  apartment  as  soon  as  we  have  given  proper  consid- 
eration to  the  pot  of  manna. 

The  stock  of  provisions  which  the  Hebrews  had 
brought  with  them  from  Egypt  soon  began  to  fail ;  and 
the  scarcity  increased  till,  in  four  weeks  after  the  exodus, 
the  people  came  to  Moses  and  Aaron  with  murmurs  of 
dissatisfaction  and  reproach.  The  hunger  of  the  people 
was  appeased  by  means  of  a  miracle,  which  covered  the 
earth  the  same  evening  with  quails,  and  the  next  morn- 
ing with  a  substance  they  had  hitherto  not  known,  but 
learned  from  this  time  onward  to  use  as  a  substitute  for 
bread.  It  was  "  a  small  round  thing,  as  small  as  the 
hoar-frost  on  the  ground,"  ^  of  a  white  color,  in  shape 
and  size  like  coriander-seed,  and  in  taste  like  wafers  made 
with  honey.^  It  is  described  as  resembling  bdellium  in 
color,  and  fresh  olive-oil  in  taste.^ 

It  was  necessary  to  give  some  name  to  this  new  sub- 
stance ;  and  so  the  people  called  it  "  manna ;  "  which  in  the 
margin  is  translated,  "  WJiat  is  it  ?  "  and  also,  "  //  is  a  por- 
tion." *     The  last  named  is  probably  the  true  significa- 

1  Exod.  xvi.  14.  2  Exod.  xvi.  31. 

'     8  Num.  xi.  7,  8.  4  Exod.  xvi.  15. 


THE   FURNITURE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  37 

tion.  The  people  recognized  it  as  their  portion,  or  gift, 
from  God.  By  direction  of  Moses,  they  gathered  enough 
for  one  day's  supply ;  and  after  beating  it  in  a  mortar,  or 
grinding  it  in  a  mill,  they  made  cakes,  and  baked  them  as 
a  substitute  for  bread.^ 

Of  this  manna,  a  constant  supply  was  miraculously  pro- 
vided from  this  time  till  they  had  passed  the  Jordan,  and 
arrived  in  the  promised  land.  Many  recent  scholars  make 
concession  to  the  rationalistic  tendency  which  would 
eliminate  every  thing  supernatural  from  the  Scriptures, 
and  under  pressure  of  the  fact  that  there  is  a  tree  in 
Arabia  which  yields  a  gum  resembling  somewhat  the 
manna  described  in  the  Pentateuch,  and  called  "  manna  " 
by  the  natives,  admit  the  identity  of  the  two ;  thus  reducing 
the  miracle  to  whatever  there  might  be  that  was  super- 
natural in  spreading  it  daily  around  the  camp  of  Israel, 
in  sufficient  quantity  for  so  great  a  multitude.  But  there 
is  no  evidence  that  the  Arabic  name  of  this  gum  is  as 
ancient  as  the  time  of  Moses.  The  name  may  have  been 
given  on  account  of  its  supposed  resemblance  to  the 
manna  with  which  the  Hebrews  were  fed  in  their  jour- 
ney. The  resemblance,  indeed,  is  incomplete  between 
this  manna  and  that  mentioned  in  the  books  of  Moses. 
Robinson,  who  brought  some  of  it  from  the  convent  at 
Sinai,  says  that,  of  all  the  characteristics  of  the  manna 
described  in  Scripture,  not  one  is  applicable  to  the  pres- 
ent manna  ;^  and  Stanley  testifies  that  there  are  "but 
few  points  of  similarity."  ^ 

The  manna  with  which  the  Hebrews  were  fed  being, 
then,  not  a  product  of  nature,  but  a  miraculous  gift,  we 

1  Num.  xi.  8.  2  Biblical  Researches:  vol.  i.  p.  170. 

3  Sinai  and  Palestine :  p.  28. 
4 


38  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

can  see  a  reason  why  some  of  it  should  be  preserved. 
Such ,  a  miracle  was  worthy  to  be  held  in  remembrance 
not  only  by  those  who  had  been  fed  with  this  bread  from 
heaven,  but  by  their  posterity ;  and  therefore  the  com- 
mand was  given :  "  Fill  an  omer  of  it  to  be  kept  for  your 
generations  ;  that  they  may  see  the  bread  wherewith  I 
have  fed  you  in  the  wilderness,  when  I  brought  you  forth 
from  the  land  of  Egypt."  ^  This  pot  of  manna  was  to  be 
deposited  in  the  Jioly  of  holies,  near  the  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant. 

Of  the  furniture  in  the  outer  apartment  of  the  taber- 
nacle, the  article  first  mentioned  in  the  directions  given 
to  Moses  is  the  table  of  show-bread. 

Made  of  acacia-wood,  and  plated  with  gold,  it  was  three 
feet  long,  one  foot  and  six  inches  wide,  two  feet  and 
three  inches  high.  Around  its  verge  was  an  ornamental 
cincture  of  solid  gold,  similar  to  that  which  adorned  the 
ark.  Beneath  this  was  a  border  of  wood  four  inches  and 
a  half  wide,  plated,  of  course,  with  gold,  and  adorned  with 
another  crown  of  gold.  The  table  was  furnished  with 
golden  rings  at  the  corners,  and  with  staves  which  were 
put  through  these  rings  when  the  table  was  to  be  carried 
on  the  shoulders  of  the  Levites,  but  removed  when  the* 
tabernacle  had  been  erected  in  a  new  encampment,  and 
the  bearers  had  deposited  their  burden  in  its  appointed 
position.  The  rings  were  attached  at  the  same  height 
as  the  wooden  border ;  but  the  specifications  do  not  inti- 
mate how  far  above  the  ground  this  was  affixed.  The 
bas-relief  on  the  Arch  of  Titus  represents  it  as  midway 
from  the  bottom  to  the  top.      The  table  carried  to  Rome 

1  Exod.  xvi.  -52. 


Fig.  it. 
TABLE  OF  SHOW-BREAD  FROM  THE  ARCH  OF  TITUS. 


Fir..   12. 
TABLE  OF  SHOW-BREAD  ACCORDING  TO  NEUMANN. 


I 


Fig.  13. 
ASSYRIAN  TABLE. 


Fig.  14 
ASSYRIAN  TABLE. 


"^ 


1/ 


VJ 


Fig.   15. 
ASSYRIAN  STOOL. 


THE  FURNITURE   OF   THE    TABERNACLE.  39 

by  Titus,  with  otlier  trophies  from  Jerusalem,  was,  how- 
ever, of  later  date  than  that  in  the  tabernacle.  The 
Roman  artist,  moreover,  had  no  motive  to  exactness  of 
representation,  and  has  shown  his  disregard  of  it  by 
making  one  side  of  the  table  longer  than  the  other,  as 
well  as  by  introducing  eagles  into  the  ornamentation  of 
the  chandelier.  The  sculptures  recently  discovered  at 
Nineveh  exhibit  patterns  of  tables,  and  other  similar  ar- 
ticles of  furniture,  with  feet  in  the  similitude  of  ox-hoofs 
and  lion-paws,  and  a  fillet  just  above  the  feet.  These 
patterns  of  ancient  art  may,  perhaps,  suggest  how  the 
rings  could  be  on  the  border  of  the  table,  and  also  "  on 
the  corners  that  are  on  the  four  feet  thereof."  ^  The 
feet  of  the  table  on  the  Arch  of  Titus  were  evidently 
designed  to  suggest  an  imitation  of  the  feet  of  some 
animal. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  apartment  was  the  golden 
chandelier,  or  candlestick  as  it  is  called  in  the  English 
version,  though  it  supported  lamps,  and  not  candles.  It 
consisted  of  a  main  shaft,  with  three  branches  diverging 
from  it  on  each  side.  But  nothing  is  said  of  its  height,  or 
of  any  of  its  dimensions  ;  so  that,  in  regard  to  its  size,  we 
are  left  to  our  own  conjectures,  aided  only  by  the  record 
of  its  weight,  and  the  testimony  of  Josephus  that  it  was 
hollow.  Some  of  the  Jewish  writers  have  maintained  that 
it  was  three  cubits,  or  four  feet  and  a  half  high ;  but 
Biihr^  suggests  valid  reasons  for  believing  that  it  was 
not  so  tall  as  the  altar  of  incense.  He  thinks  it  was  of 
the  same  height  as  the  table,  and  that  the  distance 
between  the  extremities  of  its  longest  arms  was  equal  to 
the  height.     It  may  not  be  amiss  to  notice  also,  in  this 

1  Exod.  XXV.  26.  2  Symbolik,  vol.  i.  p.  416. 


40  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

connection,  that  the  original  does  not  justify  the  Enghsh 
version  in  describing  the  chandeher  as  made  of  beaten 
work.  The  Hebrew  word  indicates,  rather,  that  it  was 
made  wliolly  of  gold,  and  not  merely  covered  over  with 
it.  It  is  the  same  expression  as  that  which  indicates 
that  the  mercy-seat  was  of  solid  metal,  and  not,  like  the 
ark  beneath  it,  of  wood  overlaid  with  gold.  If  hollow,  it 
could  hardly  have  been  beaten  into  shape  with  the  ham- 
mer, but  must  have  been  cast,  perhaps  in  separate 
pieces,  and  afterward  soldered  together. 

The  weight  of  it,  including  the  lanips  and  a  few  small 
utensils  used  in  trimming  them,  was  a  Hebrew  talent,  or 
about  one  hundred  and  thirteen  pounds  troy  ;  which  in 
gold  coin  would  be  equivalent  to  about  ($27,000)  twen- 
ty-seven thousand  dollars. 

There  was  a  threefold  ornamentation  in  the  chande- 
lier, repeated  four  times  in  the  main  shaft,  and  thrice  in 
each  of  the  branches,  described  as  a  bowl,  a  knob,  and  a 
flower,  and  by  some  supposed  to  represent  the  cup-shaped 
calyx,  the  round  fruit,  and  the  open  blossom,  of  an  almond- 
tree.  The  word  translated  "  flower  "  signifies,  however, 
a  stem  ;  and  the  order  in  which  the  triad  is  arranged 
indicates  that  the  first  was  the  flower,  the  second  the 
fruit,  and  the  third  the  stem.  The  three  pairs  of 
branches  came  out  of  the  main  stem  at  the  three  places 
of  junction  between  its  four  sections  of  calyx,  fruit,  and 
stem. 

On  the  upper  extremities  of  the  chandelier  were  seven 
eye-shaped,  or  almond-shaped  lamps  ;  the  wick  of  the  mid- 
dle lamp  projecting  from  its  west  end,  and  the  wicks  of 
the  others  from  the  end  of  the  lamp  nearest  to  the  main 
shaft.     These  lamps  were  not  fastened  to  the  chandelier, 


Fig.  i6. 
CHANDELIER    FROM    THE    ARCH   OF   TITUS. 


Fig.  17. 
CHANDELIER. 


THE  FURNITURE   (JF   THE    TABERNACLE.  41 

but  SO  placed  upon  it  that  the  priest  could  remove  them 
when  he  came  in  the  morning  to  extinguish  and  trim 
them,  and  in  the  evening  to  light  them  for  the  night. 
But,  though  not  fastened  to  the  stand  as  a  part  of  it,  they 
had  each  its  appointed  place  in  the  row,  and  never 
exchanged  places.  It  seems  so  natural  that  the  row 
of  lamps  should  have  been  parallel  with  the  south  wall  of 
the  tabernacle,  near  which  it  stood,  that  almost  all  writers 
have  passed  over  the  testimony  of  Josephus  to  the  con- 
trary ;  who  is  careful  to  state  that  "  the  lamps  looked  to 
the  east  and  to  the  south,  the  candlestick  being  placed 
obliquely."  ^ 

At  the  west  end  of  this  outer  apartment,  in  front  of 
the  curtain  which  separated  it  from  the  holy  of  holies, 
stood  the  altar  of  incense,^  three  feet  high,  with  four 
equal  sides,  each  one  foot  and  six  inches  in  horizontal 
measure.  It  consisted  of  a  frame  of  acacia-wood,  with 
horns  of  the  same  material  at  the  four  upper  cor- 
ners, plated  over  all  the  external  surface  with  gold.  It 
was  not  left  open  at  the  top,  like  the  great  altar  of  burnt- 
offering,  but  covered  with  a  board  of  acacia-wood,  over- 
laid with  gold  like  the  four  vertical  sides  ;  and  this 
cover  is  designated  by  the  word  which  signifies  the  roof 
of  a  house.  Like  the  ark  and  the  table,  it  had  rings  for 
convenience  in  transporting  it,  and  a  pair  of  gilded 
staves,  which,  however,  did  not  remain  in  the  rings  when 

1  Antiquities,  book  iii.  ch.  vi.  §7. 

"  Some  have  erroneously  concluded  from  the  direction  in  Exod.  xl.  5,  "Thou 
shalt  set  the  altar  of  gold  for  the  incense  before  the  ark  of  the  testimony,"  that 
this  altar  stood  in  the  holy  of  holies,  and  have  confirmed  themselves  in  the  mistake 
by  regarding  the  censer  mentioned  in  Heb.  ix.  4,  as  identical  with  it.  The  altar 
of  incense  was  before  the  ark,  but  also  before  and  not  behind  the  partition-veil. 
See  Exod.  xl.  26. 
4* 


42  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

the  altar  was  in  place.  Just  above  the  rings  was  a 
crown,  or  cincture,  of  the  kind  we  have  described  as 
affixed  to  the  ark  and  the  table.  The  roof  of  the  altar 
may  have  had  a  rim  at  its  edge,  unmentioned  in  the 
directions  to  the  artisans  because  such  an  appendage  to  a 
roof  is  a  matter  of  course  in  the  Orient.  The  incense 
was  probably  burned  in  a  censer  placed  on  the  top  of 
the  altar ;  the  ashes  remaining  in,  and  being  carried  away 
with,  the  censer. 

It  remains  to  describe  the  appurtenances  of  the  taber- 
nacle which  stood  in  the  open  air ;  and  of  these  we  will 
speak  first  of  the  altar  of  burnt-offering.  It  was  made 
of  the  wood  already  mentioned  as  used  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  tabernacle  and  its  furniture.  In  its  dimen- 
sions it  was  four  feet  and  six  inches  high,  and  seven  feet 
and  six  inches  in  the  horizontal  measure  of  each  of  its 
four  sides.  On  the  corners  were  the  projections  usually 
found  on  altars,  and  known  as  horns.  The  whole  wood- 
work, consisting  of  the  four  sides  and  the  four  horns, 
was  covered  with  plates  of  copper.  It  cannot  be  deter- 
mined from  the  specifications  how  the  fire  was  held  in 
place  on  the  top  of  the  altar.  Formerly  the  opinion 
prevailed  that  there  was  a  net-work,  or  grate  of  copper, 
suspended  within  the  frame  by  a  ring  at  each  of  the 
four  corners  ;  but  a  more  careful  exegesis  has  shown 
that  the  net-work  mentioned  by  Moses  was  an  attach- 
ment outside  of  the  altar,  the  four  rings  at  its  corners 
being  expressly  designated  as  made  for  the  staves  by 
which  the  altar  was  carried  from  station  to  station.^ 
According  to  the  best  commentators,  it  was  in  a  ver- 

1  Exod.  xxvii.  7. 


^ 


l^ 


m 


Fig.  iS. 
ALTAR  OF  INCENSE. 


I^I. 


6^    H 


THE  FURNITURE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  43 

tical  position,  was  in  planes  parallel  with  the  four  sides 
of  the  frame,  rose  to  half  their  height,  and  supported  the 
outer  edge  of  a  bench,  or  platform,  which  at  the  other 
edge  was  fastened  to  the  frame  of  the  altar.^ 

A  Jewish  tradition  affirms  that  the  frame  was  filled 
with  earth  at  each  place  of  encampment.  Perhaps  the 
reason  why  Moses  does  not  mention  this  is,  that  a 
statute  previously  given  required  that  all  altars  should 
consist  of  earth,  or  of  unhewn  stones ;  so  that  it  was,  in 
his  mind,  a  matter  of  course  that  the  hollow  box  would 
contain,  when  ready  for  use,  one  of  these  canonical 
materials.  The  specifications  being  for  the  use  of  the 
artisans  who  were  to  construct  the  frame,  he  had  no 
occasion  to  inform  them  that  it  was  to  be  filled  with 
earth. 

Divers  utensils  of  copper  were  made  for  the  ministra- 
tion of  the  priests  at  the  altar ;  such  as  ash-pans  and 
shovels,  bowls  for  the  blood  of  the  victims,  flesh-hooks 
for  placing  the  sacrifices  on  the  fire,  and  fire-pans 
wherein  the  sacred  fire  was  kept  burning  while  they 
cleaned  the  altar. 

This  altar  of  burnt-offering  was  placed  in  the  court 
between  the  entrance-gate  and  the  tabernacle,  and  nearer 
to  the  latter  than  to  the  former,  but  at  a  sufficient  dis- 
tance to  allow  room  for  a  large  vessel  containing  water 
to  stand  between  the  altar  and  the  sanctuary. 

The  vessel  just  mentioned,  called  in  the  English  ver- 
sion a  laver  of  brass,  was  for  the  ablutions  of  the  priests 
when  they  were  about  to  minister  at  the  altar,  or  to 

1  This  more  correct  idea  of  the  copper  lattice,  or  net-work,  belonging  to  the 
altar,  was  first  given  to  the  world  by  J.  F.  von  Meyer. 


44  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

enter  the  tabernacle.  The  metal  of  which  it  consisted 
was  supplied  from  the  contributions  of  the  women,  who 
were  so  zealous  that  they  gave  up  their  mirrors,  to  be 
converted  into  this  sacred  utensil.  Nothing  is  said  of 
the  dimensions  of  the  laver ;  but  it  would  doubtless  be 
inconvenient  to  have  it  of  small  size,  as  in  that  case  it 
must  be  often  replenished.  As  for  the  shape,  we  are 
informed  that  there  was  a  pedestal  under  it,  and  have  no 
reason  to  doubt,  that,  like  most  vessels  for  containing 
water,  it  was  round.  It  would,  therefore,  with  its  cup- 
shaped  reservoir  standing  on  a  pedestal,  present  to  the 
spectator  an  outline  resembling  that  of  vessels  known 
by  the  generic  name  of  vases.  It  is  scarcely  necessary 
to  add,  that  the  priests,  when  they  washed  their  hands 
and  feet  at  this  laver,  did  not  put  them  into  it,  but  drew 
the  water  into  some  smaller  vessel ;  or,  more  probably,  as 
it  ran  out  through  faucets  in  a  stream  to  the  ground, 
put  their  hands  or  their  feet  into  the  stream,  and  washed 
themselves  in  running  water,  after  the  Oriental  custom. 

Having  now  surveyed  the  construction  of  the  compo- 
nent parts  of  the  tabernacle,  and  taken  notice  of  the 
several  articles  of  its  furniture,  we  are  to  attend,  in  the 
next  chapter,  to  the  process  of  its  erection  and  the  at- 
tendant ceremonies  of  consecration. 

1  "Looking-glasses"  were  not  used  before  the  thirteenth  century  of  the 
Christian  era  ;  and  it  is  unaccountable  that  the  translators  should  apply  that  term 
to  mirrors  which  they  knew  to  be  metallic.  The  mirrors  of  the  ancients  were  of 
different  metals ;  but  those  of  the  Egyptians,  according  to  Wilkinson,  chiefly  of 
copper.  Doubtless  the  mirrors  of  the  Hebrew  women  were  such  as  they  had  used 
in  Egypt,  made  either  of  pure  copper,  or  of  that  metal  slightly  alloyed  with  tin ; 
which  admixture,  it  is  said,  has  been  found  by  experience  to  be  best  adapted  to  the 
purpose.     See  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary,  article  "  Mirror." 


Fig.  20. 
GROUND    PLAN  OF  THE    ONE   HUNDRED  SILVER  SILLS. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  ERECTION  OF  THE  TABERNACLE. 

The  constituent  parts  of  the  tabernacle,  being  finished, 
were  submitted  to  the  inspection  of  Moses,  and  by  liim 
approved.  Then  came  an  order  from  Jehovah  for  the 
erection  of  the  edifice  on  the  first  day  of  the  approach- 
ing new  year. 

A  temporary  sanctuary  had  been  set  up  outside  of  the 
camp,  and  at  some  distance  from  it,  whither  Moses  had 
been  accustomed  to  go  for  converse  with  Jehovah  during 
the  months  of  preparation.  This  provisional  tent  is  first 
mentioned  as  being  removed  out  of  the  camp  in  testimo- 
ny of  the  displeasure  of  God,  on  account  of  the  golden 
calf  which  the  people  had  made  and  worshipped.  It 
remained  outside  of  the  camp  till  superseded  by  the  more 
elaborate  tabernacle  now  to  be  erected.  This  was  to 
stand  not  only  within  the  camp,  but  in  its  very  centre. 

At  this  place,  therefore,  began  the  work  of  erection. 
Forty  of  the  silver  sill-pieces  were  laid  down  in  a  line 
running  east  and  west ;  at  the  west  end  of  this  line  an 
angle  was  formed  by  jolacing  two  corner  sills  in  position ; 
twelve  sills  were  laid  in  a  line  running  north  and  south 
from  the  corner ;  two  corner  sills  were  then  laid  down, 
and  then  the  forty  pieces  which  formed  the  line  parallel 
with  the  first.     Each  of  these  sills  fitted  close  to  its  fel- 

45 


46  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

low.  The  four  sills  of  silver  which  remained  were  placed 
at  equal  distances  apart,  in  a  line  parallel  with  the  west 
end,  and  fifteen  feet  east  of  it.  The  planks  were  then 
set  up,  each  plank  standing  on  two  sill-pieces ;  the  bars 
were  put  through  the  staples  in  the  planks,  and  the  frame 
was  thus  complete. .  Four  pillars  were  then  set  up  on  the 
silver  sills  mentioned  above  as  placed  in  a  line  parallel 
with  the  west  end  and  fifteen  feet  east  of  it  ;  and  five 
pillars  were  set  on  sills  of  copper,  across  the  edifice  at 
the  east  end.  The  woodwork  had  now  been  erected,  and 
was  ready  for  the  drapery. 

If  the  first  curtain  hung  down  on  the  inside,  as  Bahr 
maintains,  there  must  have  been  some  apparatus  for 
suspending  it,  of  which  we  have  no  account.  There 
might  be  hooks  and  rings  by  means  of  which  it  could  be 
easily  and  speedily  put  in  place.  But  if,  as  the  older 
writers  believed,  it  was  thrown  over  the  outside  of  the 
planks,  the  work  of  adjusting  it  so  that  it  should  reach 
from  front  to  rear,  and  hang  down  on  the  back  end  and 
on  the  sides  nearly  but  not  quite  to  the  lower  end  of  the 
planks,  could  be  not  less  easily  and  speedily  accom- 
plished. The  curtain  of  goat's  hair  was  now  put  over 
the  tapestry,  probably  with  the  half  of  one  width  at  the* 
east  end  reaching  beyond  it,  and  hanging  down  in  front. 
Such  an ^ arrangement  would  "break  joints"  by  bringing 
the  seams  of  the  upper  curtain  over  the  middle  of  the 
webs  of  the  lower.  The  size  jf  the  second  curtain  was 
such  that  it  would  reach  eighteen  inches  lower  than  the 
first,  on  the  supposition  that  the  first  hung  outside  of  the 
frame.  The  two  coverings  of  leather  being  then  suc- 
cessively put  in  place,  it  might  be  said  that  "  the  taberna- 
cle was  reared  up." 


THE  ERECTION  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  47 

This  work  of  erection  was  performed  under  the  imme- 
diate supervision  of  Moses,  and  occupied,  as  we  may- 
believe,  only  a  few  minutes.  The  edifice  was  designedly 
so  constructed  that  it  could  be  taken  down  any  day  after 
the  morning  worship,  and  set  up  again  when  the  caravan 
had  arrived  at  a  new  station,  in  time  for  the  evening  sac- 
rifice. On  this  occasion  of  its  first  erection,  the  tribe  of 
Levi  had  not  yet  been  consecrated ;  and  we  are  left  to 
conjecture  whether  Moses  called  them  to  his  aid,  or 
emploj^ed  as  his  agents  some  of  the  artisans  by  whom  the 
parts  had  been  prepared. 

The  many  and  diverse  parts  of  the  edifice  being  now 
joined  together,  the  result,  at  this  stage  in  the  proceed- 
ings, was  a  splendid  but  empty  tabernacle.  The  various 
articles  of  furniture  were,  however,  immediately  brought, 
and  placed  in  position.  Moses  put  the  two  tablets  of 
stone  on  which  God  had  written,  with  his  own  finger,  the 
commands  of  the  Decalogue,  into  the  ark ;  covered  them 
with  the  lid  of  pure  gold  which  was  to  be  the  mercy-seat ; 
placed  the  staves,  by  means  of  which  the  ark  was  to  be 
transported,  in  the  rings ;  and  brought  the  ark  into  the 
tabernacle,  and  hung  up  the  partition-veil  in  front  of  it. 
The  Jioly  of  holies  being  thus  finished  and  furnished,  "  he 
put  the  table  in  the  tent  of  the  congregation,  upon  the 
side  of  the  tabernacle  northward,  without  the  veil,  and 
set  the  bread  in  order  upon  it  before  Jehovah  ; "  "  and  he 
put  the  candlestick  in  the  tent  of  the  congregation,  over 
against  the  table,  on  the  side  of  the  tabernacle  south- 
ward, and  lighted  the  lamps  before  Jehovah ; "  "  and  he 
put  the  golden  altar  in  the  tent  of  the  congregation 
before  the  veil,  and  burnt  sweet  incense  thereon  ;  "  "  and 
he  set  up  the  hanging  at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle ;  and 


48  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

he  put  the  altar  of  burnt  offering  by  the  door  of  the 
tabernacle  of  the  tent  of  the  congregation,  and  offered 
upon  it  the  burnt  offering  and  the  meat  offering ; "  "  and 
he  set  the  laver  between  the  tent  of  the  congregation  and 
the  altar,  and  put  water  there,  to  wash  withal ;  and  Moses 
and  Aaron  and  his  sons  washed  their  hands  and  their 
feet  thereat :  when  they  went  into  the  tent  of  the  congre- 
gation, and  when  they  came  near  to  the  altar,  they 
washed."  ^ 

These  quotations  from  the  common  English  version 
clearly  and  concisely  relate  how  the  various  utensils  con- 
structed for  the  Jioly place  and  for  the  court  were  brought 
in,  placed  in  position,  and  applied  for  the  first  time  to 
the  uses  for  which  they  were  designed. 

It  only  remained  to  set  up  the  screen  around  the  court. 
The  ground  having  been  measured,  the  posts  were  put  in 
place,  each  on  its  sill-piece  of  copper,  and  fastened  with 
cords  and  pins.  The  drapery  was  hung  from  post  to 
post,  so  as  to  form  a  screen  around  the  whole  court, 
unbroken  except  at  the  east  end,  where  was  an  entrance- 
way  thirty  feet  wide,  over  which  Moses  hung  the  curtain 
already  described  as  fabricated  for  the  purpose. 

The  work  of  erection  being  finished,  the  pillar  of  cloud, 
which  had  hitherto  distinguished  the  temporary  taber- 
nacle outside  of  the  camp,  came  and  rested  upon  the  new 
sanctuary  as  a  visible  and  public  testimony  that  Jehovah 
was  pleased  with,  and  accepted  it  as  his  dwelling-place. 
This  was  the  fulfilment  of  a  promise  which  God  had 
made  before  the  work  of  construction  began,  namely, 
"  the  tabernacle  shall  be  sanctified  by  my  glory ; "  ^  for  not 
only  was  there  a  pillar  of  cloud  resting  upon  the  edifice, 

1  Exod.  xl.  22-32.  2  Exod.  xxix.  43. 


?3      •X 


-Q D ij cr 


_pr □ □ cl. 

a 


D  D 


Ln....i3 □ n.-jil 


o 


Fig.  2j. 
GROUND   PLAN  OF  THE  EDIFICE  INCLUDING  THE  COURT.. 


THE  ERECTION  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  49 

but  a  pillar  of  flame  within  it  so  bright  and  glorious,  that 
Moses  was  not  able  to  enter,  "  because  the  cloud  abode 
thereon,  and  the  glory  of  Jehovah  filled  the  tabernacle."  ^ 

On  the  same  day,  however,  and  probably  before  the 
sanctuary  was  thus  rendered  inaccessible,  Moses  conse- 
crated it,  and  all  its  vessels,  by  touching  them  witli  the  oil 
of  unction,  a  compound  of  olive-oil  and  spices  which  he 
had  been  directed  to  prepare  according  to  a  given  pre- 
scription, and  which  it  was  a  crime  to  compound  or 
employ  for  any  other  than  sacred  uses. 

On  the  same  day  also  commenced  a  series  of  offerings 
from  the  different  tribes  ;  the  prince  or  head  of  each  tribe 
appearing  as  the  representative  of  his  kindred,  and  in 
their  name  presenting  an  offering.  On  that  first  day  of 
the  new  year  six  covered  wagons  and  twelve  oxen  —  a 
wagon  for  two  of  the  princes,  and  for  each  prince  an  ox 
—  were  brought  before  the  tabernacle,  and  publicly  pre- 
sented to  Moses  for  its  service.  By  divine  direction  he 
received  them,  and  assigned  them  to  the  Levites  for 
the  transportation  of  the  various  parts  of  the  structure 
that  were  not  appointed  to  be  borne  on  their  shoulders. 
The  princes  expressing  a  desire  to  make  still  further 
offerings,  and  especially  such  as  were  appropriate  to  the 
dedication  of  the  altar  of  burnt  offering,  Moses  assigned 
one  day  to  each  of  the  twelve  princes  in  which  he  might 
bring  gifts  for  the  altar.  On  the  first  of  these  twelve 
festive  days,  the  representative  of  the  tribe  of  Judah 
presented  his  offering.  The  other  princes  had  each  his 
day ;  but  the  offerings,  undoubtedly  by  pre-arrangement, 
were  alike.     Each  brought  two  silver  vessels  full  of  fine 

1  Exod.  xl.  -ic. 


50  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

flour  mingled  with  oil ;  one  golden  vessel  full  of  incense  ; 
a  bullock,  a  ram,  and  a  lamb  of  the  first  year,  for  a  burnt 
offering ;  a  kid  for  a  sin  offering ;  and,  for  a  sacrifice  of 
peace  offerings,  two  oxen,  five  rams,  five  he-goats,  and  five 
lambs  of  the  first  year.  "  This,"  says  the  inspired  histo- 
rian, "  was  the  dedication  of  the  altar  after  that  it  was 
anointed."  ^ 

But  parallel  with  these  ceremonies  of  dedication  was 
another  series  of  ceremonies  with  which  Aaron  and  his 
sons  were  consecrated  to  the  priesthood.  These  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  describe  in  the  next  chapter,  and 
will  therefore  only  take  time  to  say  at  present  that  they 
commenced  on  the  first  day  of  the  new  year,  and  reached 
through  seven  days,  each  succeeding  day  being  an  exact 
repetition  of  the  first.  On  the  eighth  day  the  priests, 
being  now  fully  consecrated,  commenced  the  performance 
of  sacerdotal  functions,  which,  up  to  this  time,  had  been 
performed  by  Moses  himself ;  and,  to  the  great  joy  of 
the  people,  Jehovah  signified  his  acceptance  of  them  as 
his  priests,  by  sending  fire  from  the  pillar  of  fire  in  the 
sanctuary,  to  consume  the  burnt  offering  which  Aaron 
had  laid  upon  the  altar. 

But  joy  was  soon  turned  to  mourning  when  Nadab  and 
Abihu,  the  eldest  and  the  second  of  Aaron's  sons,  in 
audacious  neglect  of  the  directions  given  them,  having 
put  common  fire  into  their  censers  for  burning  incense 
in  the  holy  place,  instead  of  taking  from  the  altar  the 
holy  fire  which  Jehovah  himself  had  kindled,  were 
instantly  smitten  with  destruction,  before  they  could 
reach  the  door  of  the  sanctuary.  There  is  reason  to 
believe  that  this  sacrilegious  contempt  was  due  to  the  use 

,     1  Num.  vii.  88. 


THE  ERECTION  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  51 

of  wine,  which  had  flowed  freely  amid  the  double  festiv- 
ities of  the  dedication  of  the  tabernacle  and  the  conse- 
cration of  its  priests.  A  command  was  immediately 
given  that  Aaron  and  his  sons  should  abstain  entirely 
from  wine  and  strong  drink  when  on  duty  about  the 
tabernacle. 

This  double  series  of  ceremonies  having  lasted  through 
seven  days,  and  the  priests  having  now  assumed  the 
functions  of  their  office,  the  offerings  of  the  dedication 
continued,  as  we  have  said,  till  the  thirteenth  day,  ex- 
hausting all  the  days  of  the  month  which  preceded  the 
first  anniversary  of  their  flight  from  Egypt. 

By  special  divine  direction,  the  feast  of  the  passover 
was  celebrated  for  the  next  seven  days.  As  this  is  the 
only  celebration  of  that  festival  while  the  Israelites  were 
on  their  journey,  of  which  there  is  any  account,  and  as 
the  ordinance  by  which  it  was  instituted  did  not  require 
its  celebration  till  after  they  had  arrived  in  the  promised 
land,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  it  was  enjoined 
at  this  time  for  this,  among  other  reasons  :  that,  occurring, 
as  it  did,  just  after  the  erection  of  the  tabernacle,  it 
prolonged  for  another  week  the  solemn  and  joyous  cere- 
monies appropriate  to  that  event.^ 

1  The  first  mention  of  the  ceremonies  of  the  passover  is  in  connection  with  the 
exodus  from  Egypt,  when  the  Israelites  were  required  to  eat  the  paschal  lamb 
on  the  night  of  their  departure.  Accompanying  the  requirement  to  perform  this 
ceremony,  was  a  charge  to  do  the  seme  thing  annually,  forever ;  but  with  an  intima- 
tion that  it  was  to  be  observed  in  the  promised  land.  The  words  are,  "  It  shall 
come  to  pass,  when  ye  be  come  to  the  land  which  the  Lord  will  give  j-ou  according 
as  he  hath  promised,  that  ye  shall  keep  this  service  "  (Exod.  xii.  25).  When  the  in- 
stitution is  next  mentioned,  it  is  with  a  similar  reference  to  the  country  in  which  they 
were  to  be  settled  (Exod.  xiii.  5).  The  law  concerning  the  passover  requires  that 
they  should  not  sacrifice  the  paschal  lamb  within  any  of  their  gates,  but  at  the  place 
which  Jehovah  might  "'  choose  to  place  his  name  in ;  "  and  that  all  the  males  should 
then  and  there  present  themselves  before  Jehovah  (Deut.  xvi.  5,  6,  15).     Though 


52  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

Time  was  found,  however,  before  the  paschal  lamb  was 
sacrificed,  for  the  consecration  of  the  Levites ;  they  not 
being  included  with  the  priests  when  the  solemn  ser- 
vices were  performed  seven  days  in  succession,  by  which 
the  latter  were  set  apart  for  the  service  of  God.  This 
service  of  purifying  the  Levites  probably  took  place  on 
the  morning  of  the  fourteenth  day ;  the  celebration 
of  the  passover  commencing  when  that  day  came  to  an 
end  at  the  setting  of  the  sun.^ 

The  extraordinary  services  consequent  upon  the  first 
erection  of  the  sanctuary,  having  continued  for  three 
weeks,  terminated  at  the  close  of  the  festival  of  the 
passover.  The  edifice  remained  standing  for  nearly  four 
weeks  afterward  before  the  signal  was  given  for  removal. 

It  stood,  as  has  been  already  observed,  in  the  centre 
of  the  camp.  Let  us  carefully  survey  the  scene.  Here 
are  three  millions  of  people  ^  encamped  around  i  hollow 

there  is  nothing  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  as  there  is  in  regard  to  the  fes- 
tivals of  first  fruits  and  of  tabernacles,  whicli  required  the  celebration  of  the 
passover  to  commence  with  the  entrance  into  Canaan,  yet  the  letter  of  the  statute 
requires  it  as  much  in  respect  to  this  festival  as  to  those ;  so  that  in  the  absence 
of  any  mention  of  its  observance,  save  in  the  one  case  where  it  was  specially 
enjoined  in  connection  with  the  setting-up  of  the  tabernacle,  it  is  reasonable  to  be- 
lieve that  there  was  no  observance  of  the  passover  between  the  removal  from  Sinai, 
and  the  passage  of  the  Jordan.  The  legislation  presupposes  a  speedy  arrival  in 
the  promised  land,  which  would  doubtless  have  been  a  fact  but  for  the  rebellious 
unbelief  and  cowardice  of  the  people. 

2  Deut.  xvi.  6. 

3  The  census  taken  at  Sinai  gives  603,550  fighting  men  ;  which,  not  including 
Levites,  would  indicate  a  total  of  about  3,000,000  of  men,  women,  and  children. 
The  census  taken  on  the  plains  of  Moab,  some  thirty-seven  or  thirty-eight  years 
after,  gives  601,730  fighting  men  ;  so  that  there  had  been  no  increase,  and  no  great 
decrease,  of  the  population. 

Some  writers  are  unnecessarily  distrustful  of  these  numbers.  If  only  the  totals 
had  been  given,  there  might  have  been  some  room  to  suspect  that  an  accident  had 
m.ade  them  read  differently  from  what  was  originally  written  ;  but  in  both  cases  the 
number  of  men  in  each  tribe  able  to  go  to  war  is  specified,  and  then  the  total ;  so 


THE  ERECTION  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  53 

square  of  so  great  magnitude,  that,  with  the  exception  of 
the  appointed  attendants  on  the  tabernacle,  none  are 
nearer  to  it  than  three  thousand  feet.^  If  we  estimate 
the  width  of  the  belt  of  tents  at  the  same  measure,  we 
have  a  square  of  twelve  thousand  feet,  or  more  than  two 
miles  on  a  side. 

The  tents  are  arranged  in  four  divisions ;  three  tribes 
constituting  a  division,  and  occupying  one  side  of  the 
square  under  a  common  standard.  The  tribes  of  Judah, 
Issachar,  and  Zebulon  are  on  the  east  side,  in  front  of 
the  sanctuary,  under  the  standard  of  Judah ;  Reuben, 
Simeon,  and  Gad  are  on  the  south,  under  the  standard  of 
Reuben  ;  Ephraim,  Manasseh,  and  Benjamin  are  in  the 
rear  of  the  tabernacle,  under  the  standard  of  Ephraim ; 
Dan,  Asher,  and  Naphtali  are  on  the  north,  under  the 


that  an  accident  in  any  of  the  items  would  have  given  a  different  total,  arid  vice 
versa.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  statistics,  as  we  read  them, 'are  pre- 
cisely as  they  were  originally  written.  But  if  there  were  more  than  6oq,ooo  men 
of  twenty  years  old  upward,  the  total  sum  of  the  people  must  have  been  about 
3,000,000. 

The  difficulty  of  finding  subsistence  for  such  a  multitude  seems,  at  first  thought, 
to  forbid  assent  to  this  conclusion,  but  diminishes  as  one  remembers  that  what  is 
called  "a  wilderness  "  was  not  a  desert,  but  only  an  uncultivated  region  abounding 
in  pasturage,  and  therefore  available  for  the  sustentation  of  shepherds  and  herds- 
men ;  and  that  the  scarcity  of  cereals  was  compensated  by  the  daily  miracle  of  the 
manna. 

The  impossibility  of  accounting  for  the  existence  of  so  numerous  a  people  in  so 
short  a  time  after  the  removal  of  Jacob  and  his  sons  to  Egypt,  which  some  have 
imagined,  is  not  felt  by  those  who,  like  Ewald,  believe  that  the  descendants  of 
Jacob  were  joined,  in  their  escape  from  Egypt,  by  thousands  who  were  of  the  same 
religion,  but  not  of  the  same  blood.  Even  without  any  considerable  admixture  of 
proselytes,  it  is  not  impossible  that  a  race  so  prolific  as  to  excite  the  apprehensions 
of  the  Egyptian  monarch  may  have  increased  in  four  centuries  to  3,000,000. 

1  This  is  the  distance  at  which  the  people  were  required  to  keep  from  the  ark 
when  they  followed  it  through  the  Jordan  (Josh.  iii.  4)  ;  and  the  Jewish  tradition 
assigns  the  same  measure  to  the  width  of  the  open  space  between  the  tabernacle 
and  the  tents  of  the  twelve  lay  tribes. 
5* 


54  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

Standard  of  Dan.^  These  standards  were  flags  of  dif- 
ferent colors ;  each  flag  corresponding  in  color,  as  Jewish 
writers  allege,  with  the  stone  in  the  pectoral  of  the  high 
priest  on  which  the  name  of  the  tribe  represented  by 
that  flag  is  engraven. 

Each  division  is  subdivided  into  three  tribal  camps  ; 
the  standard-bearing  tribe  occupying  the  centre,  with  an 
associate  tribe  on  either  wing. 

Within  the  hollow  square  formed  by  these  four  grand 
divisions  of  the  Hebrews,  and  at  a  distance  of  three 
thousand  feet  from  the  innermost  tents,  is  the  tabernacle 
of  Jehovah,  surrounded  by  the  dwellings  of  its  appointed 
attendants. 

1    Num.  ii.  1-31. 


U        \  ^ 


cu. 


D  i  D 


d]  en 


Fig.  25. 
PLAN   OF   THE    ENCAMPMENT. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  ATTENDANTS  OF  THE  TABERNACLE. 

We  should  naturally  expect  that  the  edifice  erected  by 
the  Israelites,  with  so  great  an  outlay  of  labor  and  mate- 
rial, to  be  the  habitation  of  their  national  Deity,  would 
be  provided  with  a  considerable  number  of  persons  ap- 
pointed to  have  charge  of  the  building,  and  to  perform 
those  ministrations  of  religion,  both  daily  and  occasional, 
with  which  the  nation  was  to  acknowledge  and  honor 
their  covenant  God ;  but  not  many  would  anticipate  so 
extensive  a  provision  as  that  by  which  an  entire  tribe 
was  consecrated  to  this  service.  The  surprise  with 
which  we  learn  that  all  the  males  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  are 
to  be  set  apart  to  the  service  of  the  tabernacle  is,  how- 
ever, somewhat  reduced  on  learning  that  this  was  by  far 
the  least  numerous  of  the  tribes.  All  its  males,  from  one 
month  old  upward,  numbered  only  twenty-two  thousand ; 
while  the  tribe  of  Judah  had  seventy-four  thousand  six 
hundred  men,  of 'twenty  years  old  upward,  enrolled  for 
military  service ;  and  the  average  number  of  persons  sub- 
ject to  military  duty  in  the  several  tribes,  counting  Eph- 
raim  and  Manasseh  as  two  tribes,  was  more  than  fifty 
thousand.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  tribe  of  Levi 
was  set  apart  for  the  service  of  Jehovah  in  place  of  the 
first-born  males  in  all  the  families  of   the   nation,  who 

55 


56  HISTORY  OF  THE    TiABERNACLE. 

were  consecrated  to  him  in  memory  of  the  passover  and  of 
the  distinction  then  made  between  Hebrew  and  Egyptian 
famines ;  and  that  it  was  ordained  that  the  substitution 
should  be  of  man  for  man,  the  excess  in  the  number  of  the 
first-born  over  the  number  of  the  descendants  of  Levi 
being  redeemed  with  money  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the 
tabernacle.  According  to  the  census  taken  in  connection 
with  this  substitution,  there  were  twenty-two  thousand 
males  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  and  twenty-two  thousand  two 
hundred  and  seventy-three  first-born  males,  in  the  nation ; 
enumerating,  in  both  cases,  all  who  were  one  month  old 
upward. 

The  tribe  thus  set  apart  to  have  charge  of  the  sanc- 
tuary in  behalf  of  the  entire  people  was  divided  into  three 
companies ;  each  company  being  the  descendants  of  one 
of  the  three  sons  of  Levi.  The  descendants  of  Merari 
had  charge  of  the  planks  of  acacia  which  formed  the 
frame  of  the  tabernacle,  of  the  silver  sill-pieces,  and  of 
the  pillars  around  the  court,  with  their  bases,  pins,  and 
cords.  It  was  their  duty,  when  the  encampment  was 
removed,  to  take  these  articles  from  the  position  they 
had  occupied  as  a  constituent  part  of  the  sanctuary,  load 
them  on  four  wagons  assigned  for  this  service,  transport 
them  to  the  station  appointed  for  a  new  encampment, 
and  there  re-erect  the  sacred  edifice. 

The  descendants  of  Gershon  had  charge  of  the  cur- 
tains, with  the  exception  of  the  partition-veil  between 
the  holy  place  and  the  holy  of  holies,  which  went  with 
the  ark  it  was  appointed  to  conceal.  To  this  division 
were  assigned  two  wagons  for  the  transportation  of  their 
charge. 

The  descendants  of  Kohath,  who  were  the  near  kins- 


THE  ATTENDANTS  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.         57 

men  of  Mcses  and  Aaron,  were  appointed  to  a  more  holy 
and  responsible  service  than  either  of  the  other  divisions, 
and  were  to  perform  it  under  the  immediate  superin- 
tendence of  the  priests.  The  ark  of  the  covenant  being 
first  carefully  covered  by  the  priests  with  the  veil  which 
had  been  hanging  in  front  of  it,  and  then  with  layers  of 
skin  and  cloth,  and  the  other  pieces  of  furniture  being  also 
suitably  protected,  the  Kohathites  were  to  carry  them  on 
their  shoulders  by  means  of  the  wooden  staves  provided 
for  that  purpose.  But,  though  appointed  to  serve  the 
tabernacle  by  carrying  on  their  shoulders  its  "  most  holy 
things,"  they  were  not  permitted  to  touch  them,  or  even 
to  behold  those  which  belonged  within  the  sanctuary. 
A  Kohathite  going  within  the  tabernacle  before  the  holy 
things  he  was  to  carry  had  been  covered  by  the  priests, 
or  laying  his  hand  on  the  utensil  he  was  bearing  as  the 
caravan  moved  from  place  to  place,  incurred  the  penalty 
of  death. 

While  the  directions  for  this  servdce  of  the  Levites  in 
the  removal  of  the  sanctuary  are  given  in  detail  in  the 
Pentateuch,  there  are  no  specific  directions  concerning 
their  duty  when  the  caravan  was  at  rest.  They  were 
directed  in  general  terms  to  do  whatever  the  priests 
required.  In  later  books  we  find,  here  and  there,  hints 
from  which  we  learn  that  it  was  their  task  to  prepare  the 
show-bread,  the  fine  flour  for  oblations  on  the  altar,  and 
the  unleavened  cakes  into  which  the  fine  flour  was  some- 
times made  before  it  was  presented  to  the  officiating 
priest ;  to  assist  in  bringing  to  the  altar,  and  slaughtering, 
the  animals  offered  in  sacrifice  ;  to  bring  wood  and  water  ; 
to  furnish,  out  of  their  number,  a  band  of  musicians  to  play 
on  instruments,  and  sing,  in  connection  with  the  morning 


S8  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

and  evening  sacrifices  ;  to  clean  the  court  and  its  utensils  ; 
and  generally  to  have  charge  of  the  sanctuary,  including, 
doubtless,  its  protection  from  profane  intrusion. 

For  the  more  convenient  discharge  of  these  duties, 
and  especially  of  the  duty  last  named,  the  tribe  of  Levi 
was  directed  to  encamp  immediately  around  the  sacred 
court  in  which  the  tabernacle  stood.  The  tents  of  Moses 
and  the  priests  were  in  front  where  they  could  exercise 
supervision  ;  their  nearest  kinsmen,  the  Kohathites,  were 
on  the  south  side ;  the  Gershonites,  who  had  the  drapery 
under  their  care,  were  in  the  rear  ;  and  the  descendants  of 
Merari,  whose  special  duty  it  was  to  set  up  and  take 
down  the  woodwork  of  the  edifice  and  its  court,  occupied 
the  ground  on  the  north. 

While  the  whole  tribe  of  Levi  was  separated  from  the 
other  tribes,  for  the  service  of  the  tabernacle,  Aaron  and 
his  sons,  who  traced  their  lineage  to  Levi  through  Ko- 
hath,  were  called  to  a  still  wider  separation  from  the  peo- 
ple of  the  secular  tribes ;  they  and  their  descendants 
being  set  apart  as  priests,  with  Aaron  as  their  chief.  At 
the  time  when  Aaron  and  his  descendants  were  thus 
called  to  the  priesthood,  he  had  four  sons,  —  Nadab, 
Abihu,  Eleazar,  and  Ithamar.  It  was  not  long,  however, 
before  the  first  and  second  of  these  came  to  a  violent 
death,  as  already  mentioned ;  and,  as  they  left  no  chil- 
dren, the  sacerdotal  office  was  transmitted  only  to  the 
descendants  of  Eleazar  and  Ithamar. 

There  was  a  broad  distinction  between  the  priests  and 
the  other  descendants  of  Levi.  A  priest  was  a  Levite  ; 
but  a  Levite  was  not  necessarily  a  priest,  and,  if  not  a 
priest,  was  incompetent  to  officiate  as  principal  in  any 


THE  ATTENDANTS  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.         59 

religious  service  of  the  tabernacle.  The  Levites  assisted 
the  priests  as  their  servants,  performing  under  their 
direction  such  menial  labor  as  was  necessary,  but  were 
forbidden,  on  penalty  of  death,  to  take  upon  themselves 
any  function  of  the  priesthood. 

The  family  of  Aaron  were  set  apart  to  the  sacerdotal 
office  with  formal  rites  of  consecration,  which  included 
investment  with  peculiar  and  costly  official  garments, 
unction  with  the  perfumed  oil  already  mentioned,  and  a 
series  of  sacrifices  of  three  different  kinds.  These  cere- 
monies were  repeated  daily  for  seven  days. 

The  common  Levites,  so  far  as  appears  from  the  books 
of  Moses,  had  no  official  costume,  but  were  habited  like 
men  of  other  tribes,  as  well  when  employed  about  the 
sanctuary  as  when  not  on  duty ;  ^  but  priests  were  obliged 
to  wear,  when  officiating,  the  garments  pertaining  to  their 
office.  Their  investiture  with  these  required  insignia  was 
one  of  the  ceremonies  ot  consecration  with  which  they 
were  inducted  into  the  priesthood. 

Of  the  eight  articles  of  dress  belonging  to  the  official 
costume  of  the  high-priest,  four  were  common  to  him 
and  his  subordinates,  and  four  were  peculiar  to  his  rank 
as  chief.  The  four  garments  worn  by  the  high-priest 
and  his  subordinates  alike  comprised  the  entire  dress  of 
a  priest  of  ordinary  rank  when  officiating.^  They  were 
the  breeches,  the  coat,  the  girdle,  and  the  bonnet,  as 
they  are  severally  named  in  the  English  version,  all 
made  of  the  superior  sort  of  linen  which  the  Hebrews 
called  shesli,  already  mentioned  in  describing  the  curtains 

1  We  read  that  in  later  times  they  were,  at  least  on  special  occasions,  clothed 
in  white  ;  but  this  was  probably  not  by  divine  command. 

2  Pictorial  illustrations  of  the  sacerdotal  garments  may  be  found  in  chap.  xii. 
of  part  ii. 


6o  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

of  the  tabernacle.  The  first  to  be  put  on  was  the 
breeches,  or  drawers,  reaching  from  the  loins  to  the  mid- 
dle of  the  thighs.  The  coat,  or  tunic  as  we  prefer  to 
name  it,  was,  like  all  such  garments  in  the  time  of  Moses, 
seamless,  being  woven  in  one  piece.^  It  reached  from 
the  neck  to  the  feet,  and  had  sleeves.  The  directions 
required  that  it  should  be  broidered,  according  to  the 
English  version,  or,  according  to  Gesenius,  woven  in 
squares.  The  girdle  was  variegated  in  blue,  purple,  and 
crimson ;  the  warp  being  of  white,  and  the  colors  woven 
in  as  a  part  of  the  woof.  Josephus  describes  it  as  going 
many  times  round,  four  fingers  broad,  but  so  loosely 
woven  that  you  would  think  it  were  the  skin  of  a  ser- 
pent.^ When  the  priest  was  at  leisure,  it  hung  from  the 
knot  where  it  was  tied  on  the  breast  down  to  the  ankles ; 
but,  when  he  engaged  in  his  official  duties,  he  threw  it 
over  his  left  shoulder.  The  bonnet  might  more  properly 
be  called  a  turban.  It  was  a  long  web  of  linen,  wound 
many  times  around  the  head. 

To  these  four  ''  garments  of  white,"  as  they  are  called 
by  some  Jewish  writers,  comprising,  as  we  have  said,  the 
entire  official  dress  of  a  subordinate,  the  high-priest 
added  four  which  were  termed  "  garments  of  gold." 
These  were  the  robe  of  the  ephod,  the  ephod,  the 
breastplate,  and  the  mitre.  The  first  to  be  put  on  was 
the  robe  of  the  ephod  ;  a  blue  tunic  which  had  arm- 
holes,  but  no  sleeves,  extended  from  the  shoulders' 
downward  to  the  calf  of  the  leg,  and  was  open  only 
at  the  top  and  bottom.     A  strong  binding  was  woven 

1  Braun :   Vestitus  Sacerdotum  Hebraeorum.      Amsterdam,  i6g8.      Liber  i. 
pp.  255-260. 

2  Antiquities,  book  iii.  chap.  vii.  §2. 


THE  ATTENDANTS  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.         6i 

around  the  aperture  at  the  top ;  and  from  the  hem  at  the 
bottom  were  suspended  colored  tassels  in  the  shape  of 
pomegranates  or  apples,  alternating  with  golden  bells 
of  about  equal  size.  The  number  of  the  bells  not  being 
given  in  Scripture,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  they  were 
numerous,  and  to  quote  in  proof  the  words  of  the  writer 
of  Ecclesiasticus,  who  says,  "  He  compassed  him  with 
many  little  bells  of  gold  all  round  about,  that  as  he  went 
there  might  be  a  sound  and  a  noise  made,  that  might  be 
heard  in  the  temple  for  a  memorial  to  the  children  of  his 
people."  ^  The  second  of  the  four  pieces  peculiar  to  the 
high-priest  was  the  ephod,  a  short  garment  hanging  from 
the  shoulders  before  and  behind  like  two  aprons,  united 
on  the  shoulders,  but  disconnected  below.  The  principal 
material  was  shesJi ;  and  it  was  inwoven  with  figures  of 
cunning  device,  in  threads  of  gold,  blue,  purple,  and  crim- 
son. A  girdle  of  the  same  material  fastened  these  two 
parts  of  the  ephod  close  to  the  body.  This  "  curious 
girdle  "  seems  to  have  been  an  integral  part  of  the  ephod 
itself,  perhaps  consisting  of  an  appendage  on  either  edge 
of  one  of  the  pendent  pieces,  formed  when  the  cloth  was 
in  the  loom.  On  the  shoulder-pieces  of  the  ephod  were 
two  large  and  splendid  onyx-stones  set  in  gold,  engraven 
with  the  names  of  the  twelve  sons  of  Jacob,  six  names 
on  each  stone.  The  third  of  the  garments  peculiar  to 
the  high  priest  was  the  pectoral,  or  breastplate  of  judg- 
ment. This  was  a  bag  of  the  same  kind  of  cloth  as  the 
ephod,  made  by  folding  a  piece  of  the  tapestry  eigh- 
teen inches  long,  and  'nine  inches  wide,  so  as  to  form  a 
square  of  nine  inches.  To  the  external  fold  of  the  cloth 
were  attached  twelve  precious  stones  of  twelve  different 

1  Ch.  xlv.   10,  II. 


62  HISTORY  OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

kinds,  arranged  in  four  rows.  Each  stone  was  set  in 
gold,  and  engraven  with  the  name  of  one  of  the  sons  of 
Jacob.  The  breastplate  was  suspended  from  the  shoul- 
ders by  chains  of  gold,  and  was  also  fastened  to  the 
ephod  by  means  of  rings  on  its  lower  corners.  The 
specifications  for  its  construction  close  with  a  direction 
to  put  in  it  the  Urim  and  Thummim ;  as  if  these,  what- 
ever they  may  have  been,  were  things  too  well  known  to 
Moses  to  need  description.  We  shall  have  occasion 
hereafter  to  speak  of  the  use  made  of  the  Urim  and 
Thummim  ;  but  there  is  really  nothing  which  can  be 
said  in  the  way  of  description,  more  than  to  record  vari- 
ous conjectures.  We  pass,  therefore,  to  the  only  remain- 
ing official  garment,  the  mitre.  This  probably  differed 
in  shape  from  the  bonnets  of  the  subordinate  priests. 
We  have  but  scanty  means,  however,  of  ascertaining 
what  the  specific  differences  were.  The  etymology  of 
their  Hebrew  names  ^  seems  to  favor  the  opinion,  that,  in 
the  case  of  the  mitre,  the  long  web  of  cloth  was  wrapped 
upon  itself  more  times,  so  as  to  produce  a  turban  of 
greater  circumference,  but  less  altitude,  than  the  bonnet 
of  a  subordinate,  which  was  built  up  from  the  head  in 
the  shape  of  a  helmet.  The  mitre  was  also  distinguished 
from  the  bonnet  by  a  plate  of  pure  gold,  called  a  crown, 
attached  to  its  front,  and  extending  from  ear  to  ear,  on 
which  was  inscribed  Holiness  to  Jehovah.  This  crown 
was  attached  by  means  of  a  blue  ribbon  passed  through 
an  aperture  at  the  middle  of  the  crown  till  the  ribbon 
displayed  two  ends  of  equal  length,  which  were  brought 

1  nSJV?  from  f|J>f,  {to  wrap  around),  and  ni^3Jp,  from  |'pj  {to  be  high, 
(Specially  -with  a  round  form).  From  the  cognate  verb  ^03  having  exactly  the 
same  meaning,  J^313  {a  helmet)  is  derived. 


THE  ATTENDANTS  OF  THE    TABERNACLE        63 

over  the  top  of  the  mitre  to  the  back  of  the  head,  tied 
together,  brought  forward  each  to  an  aperture  in  the  end 
of  the  crown,  and,  after  being  passed  through  this  aper- 
ture, were  returned  to  the  knot  at  the  back  of  the  head, 
where  the  ends  were  made  fast. 

Such  was  the  magnificent  costume  to  be  worn  by  the 
high-priest  in  his  ordinary  ministrations.  But  on  the 
day  of  expiation  he  was  habited  not  in  these  "  garments 
of  gold,"  but  in  pure  white  Hnen,  as  he  entered  the  holy 
of  holies  to  make  expiation,  first  for  his  own  sins,  and 
then  for  the  sins  of  the  people.  With  this  exception, 
the  costumes  we  have  described  as  appertaining  to  the 
high-priest  and  his  subordinates  were  always  worn  by 
them  when  performing  official  functions.  When  they 
were  not  on  duty,  their  apparel  was  similar  to  that  of 
other  Hebrews. 

The  investment  of  Aaron  and  his  sons  with  these 
garments  was  one  of  the  ceremonies  with  which  they 
were  consecrated  to  the  priesthood.  The  candidates 
were  conducted  to  the  door  of  the  tabernacle,  where, 
having  washed  their  hands  and  feet,  they  were  publicly 
clothed  with  these  insignia  of  office.  The  next  cere- 
mony was  to  anoint  Aaron  with  the  holy  oil  by  pouring 
it  on  his  head  so  that  it  ran  down  on  his  beard,  and 
dropped  on  his  garments. 

Finally  sacrifices  were  offered  ;  first,  a  bullock  as  a  sin- 
offering  ;  next,  a  ram  as  a  whole  burnt-offering ;  and, 
thirdly,  another  ram  as  a  consecration  offering.  With 
the  blood  of  this  last  sacrifice,  the  candidates  were 
touched  on  the  tip  of  the  right  ear,  the  thumb  of  the 
right  hand,  and  the  great  toe  of  the  right  foot.  Besides, 
some  of  it  mixed  with  the  sacred  oil  of  unction  was 
sprinkled  on  their  persons,  and  on  their  garments. 


64  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

By  means  of  these  ceremonies  repeated  daily  for 
seven  days,  Aaron  and  his  sons  were  duly  consecrated 
to  the  priesthood,  and  not  only  they,  but  their  descend- 
ants as  well ;  for  it  does  not  appear  that  their  posterity 
were  set  apart  with  any  similar  rites,  save  only  that  the 
son  of  the  high-priest,  when  he  succeeded  to  his  father's 
ofifice,  was  invested  with  its  insignia,  and  anointed  with 
the  holy  oil. 

What,  now,  was  the  peculiar  duty  required  of  this 
family  thus  set  apart,  not  only  to  the  service  of  the  tab- 
ernacle, but  to  higher  ministrations  than  those  of  the 
common  Levites  ?  They  were  to  watch  over  the  holy 
fire  miraculously  kindled  at  first,  and  keep  it  ever  burn- 
ing; to  feed  and  trim  the  seven  lamps  in  the  Jioly  place  ; 
to  change  the  loaves  of  show-bread  ;  to  offer  morning  and 
evening  the  sacrifices  on  the  altar  of  burnt-offering,  and 
the  incense  on  the  golden  altar  in  the  Jioly  place.  These 
were  constant  and  regular  duties ;  but,  in  addition,  they 
must  be  ready  to  officiate  in  the  occasional  services  re- 
quired by  the  law  when  individual  worshippers  came  to 
present  their  offerings.  What  these  were,  we  need  not 
now  inquire,  as  it  will  be  necessary  to  enumerate  them 
in  the  next  chapter. 

But  not  all  who  were  descended  from  Aaron  could 
perform  these  sacerdotal  duties.  A  young  man  of 
unquestionable  genealogy  was  entitled  to  share  in  the 
perquisites  of  the  priesthood,  but  could  not  approach  the 
altar  if  he  had  any  bodily  defect  or  blemish.^ 

1  In  later  times  every  youthful  candidate  for  the  priesthood  appeared  before 
the  Sanhedrim  for  a  formal  examination,  first  of  his  genealogy,  and  then  of  his 
physique.  Lightfoot  says  (Temple  Service,  ch.  vi.),  "The  manner  of  their 
instalment  and  admission  to  the  service  was  this  :  The  great  Sanhednm  sat  daily  in 
the  room  Gazith,  to  judge  concerning  the  priests  that  came  to  age,  to  enter  into 


THE  ATTENDANTS  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.         65 

It  appears,  from  the  difference  between  the  prescribed 
duty  of  the  priests  and  of  the  Levites,  that  the  attend- 
ants of  the  tabernacle  were  divided  into  two  classes,  or 
castes  ;  one  being  like  sons  in  the  house,  and  the  other 
like  servants.  The  priests  were  partakers  with  the  altar, 
consuming  parts  of  the  same  offering,  and  were  per- 
mitted to  enter  not  merely  the  court,  but  the  private 
apartments  of  the  Holy  One  to  whom  the  habitation 
belonged ;  while  the  Levites  performed  menial  service, 
but  had  no  access  to  the  presence-chamber  of  the  king 
whom  they  served. 

the  service,  to  see  whether  they  were  of  the  priest's  line  rightly  descended,  or  no  ; 
and,*  if  they  proved  so,  then  to  see  whether  they  were  without  blemish ;  if  they 
proved  not  truly  and  completely  priests  born,  they  were  clothed  in  black,  and  veiled 
in  black,  and  so  turned  away,  and  no  more  to  do  with  them  ;  but  if  he  proved  of 
the  priest's  line  rightly  begotten,  and  there  were  any  blemish  in  him  of  the  one 
hundred  and  forty  blemishes  {for  so  many  they  number),  then  he  was  set  to  the 
worming  of  the  wood,  of  which  we  have  spoken  in  the  description  of  the  court  of 
the  women.  But  if  he  proved  rightly  descended,  and  without  any  blemish,  then 
was  he  clothed  in  white,  and  enrolled  among  the  rest  of  the  priests,  and  he  went  in, 
and  served  at  the  altar  as  the  others  did ;  and  to  these  customs  that  speech  alludeth 
in  Rev.  iii.  5  :  '  He  that  overcometh,  the  same  shall  be  clothed  in  white  raiment ; 
and  I  win  not  blot  out  his  name  out  of  the  book  of  life.'  " 
6* 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  SACRIFICES  OF   THE   TABERNACLE, 

The  tabernacle  having  been  erected  in  the  midst  of  a 
people  separated  from  the  rest  of  mankind  to  be  the 
recipients  and  mediators  of  a  revelation  which  Jehovah 
would  make  of  himself  to  the  world,  a  constant  worship 
was  maintained  by  the  priests  in  the  name  of  the  holy 
nation. 

But,  before  we  proceed  to  inspect  the  ritual  of  the 
sanctuary  as  it  was  daily  celebrated,  it  may  be  advisable 
to  acquaint  ourselves  with  its  different  species  of  sacri- 
fices ;  for,  with  no  knowledge  of  the  difference  between 
a  sin-offering  and  a  burnt-offering,  one  could  poorly 
comprehend  what  he  saw,  even  if  standing  in  full  view 
of  the  smoking  altar.  It  would  be  premature,  however, 
to  inquire  at  present  either  concerning  the  general  signifi- 
cance of  sacrifices,  or  the  special  import  of  the  different 
kinds ;  so  that  our  present  task  is  to  distinguish  one  vari- 
ety from  another  by  their  outward  and  visible  differences, 
taking  into  view  their  disparity  of  meaning  only  so  far 
as  it  may  instantly  appear. 

We  find  enumerated  among  the  oblations  offered  on 
the  great  altar  in  the  court  of  the  tabernacle,  — 

sin-offerings,  meat-offerings, 

trespass-offerings,        drink-offerings, 
burnt-offerings,  peace-offerings. 

66 


THE  SACRIFICES  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  67 

Of  sin-offerings,  the  Scriptures  make  no  mention  as 
existing  before  the  time  of  Moses.  Other  kinds  of  sac- 
rifice he  found  in  existence  ;  but  this  species  seems  to 
have  been  instituted  simultaneously  with  the  law  of  Sinai, 
as  a  relief  for  consciences  burdened  with  sin  in  conse- 
quence of  the  multiplied  requirements  and  prohibitions 
of  that  law.  For  one  who  wilfully  and  presumptuously 
transgressed,  no  sacrifice  was  appointed :  he  must  be 
punished  without  the  possibility  of  pardon.^  But,  if  any 
one  had  violated  any  precept  through  inadvertence,  he 
might  bring  a  sin-offering ;  and  when  it  had  been  slain, 
and  its  blood  sprinkled  on  certain  parts  of  the  tabernacle 
prescribed  by  the  law,  his  sin  was  expiated,  and  he  was 
forgiven.  Expiation,  an  element  in  the  idea  of  all  sacri- 
fice, was  the  special  and  leading  element  in  this  particu- 
lar species. 

The  ceremonial  of  a  sin-offering  was  as  follows :  The 
victim  must  be  an  animal  not  younger  than  eight  days, 
nor  older  than  one  year ;  a  female  kid  or  lamb  for  a 
private  person,  a  male  kid  for  a  ruler,  and  a  bullock  for 
a  priest.  In  all  cases  it  must  be  without  defect.  The 
sacrificer  laid  his  hand  on  the  head  of  the  victim,  making 
oral  confession  of  sin,  and  praying  that  this  sacrifice 
might  be  his  expiation.  The  animal  was  then  slain  ;  and, 
if  the  offerer  was  either  a  private  person  or  a  ruler,  some 
of  the  blood  was  sprinkled  on  the  horns  of  the  sacrificial 
altar,  and  the  remainder  poured  out  at  its  base.  But,  if 
the  sacrifice  was  offered  in  behalf  of  a  sinning  priest,  the 
blood  was  sprinkled,  not  on  the  horns  of  the  great  altar 
in  the  court,  but  first  on  the  horns  of  the  altar  of  incense 
in  the  Jioly  place,  then  seven  times  within  the  same  apart- 

1  Heb.  X.  26-28. 


68  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

ment  toward  the  mercy-seat,  which  stood  behind  the  veil, 
and  afterward  what  remained  was  poured  out  at  the  base 
of  the  great  altar. 

The  fat,  as  the  choicest  part  of  the  flesh,  having  been 
consumed  on  the  altar,  the  remainder  of  the  victim,  if 
the  offering  had  been  brought  by  a  private  person  or 
a  ruler,  was  eaten  by  the  priests  within  the  court  of  the 
tabernacle,  their  families  not  being  allowed  to  share  with 
them.  In  the  case  of  a  sin-offering  for  a  priest  or  for 
the  whole  congregation,  the  flesh,  after  the  fat  had  been 
burned  on  the  altar,  was  carried  outside  of  the  camp  and 
burned  to  ashes  in  an  undefiled  place. 

The  sin-offerings  prescribed  for  the  annual  day  of 
expiation  were  a  bullock  for  the  high-priest,  and  a  goat  for 
the  people ;  and  in  both  cases  the  ritual  differed  from 
those  described  above  in  the  application  of  the  blood, 
which-  was  first  sprinkled  on  the  mercy-seat  within  the 
holy  of  holies,  afterward  within  the  Jioly  place,  and  thirdly 
on  the  altar  in  the  court.  They  differed  also  from  the 
offerings  prescribed  for  individual  laymen,  as  they  resem- 
bled those  for  individual  priests,  in  the  mode  in  which 
the  flesh  of  the  victims  was  disposed  of ;  for,  after  the  fat 
had  been  offered  on  the  altar,  the  remainder,  both  of  the 
bullock  and  the  goat,  was  carried  out  of  the  camp,  and 
burned  in  an  undefiled  place. 

The  difference  both  in  the  application  of  the  blood 
and  in  the  disposal  of  the  flesh  cannot  fail  to  awaken,  in' 
the  attentive  observer,  the  suspicion  that  some  variation 
in  the  import  of  the  transaction  was  intended  by  it.  It 
does  not  consist,  however,  with  our  plan,  to  scrutinize  at 
present  the  significance  either  of  the  sin-offering  itself, 
or  of  these  variations  in  it  as  presented  for  different 


THE  SACRIFICES  OF  THE   TABERNACLE.  69 

classes  of  sinners.     At  this  stage-  of  our  investigation 
we  have  to  do  only  with  the  facts. 

The  trespass-offering  was  almost,  but  not  exactly,  the 
same  in  principle  as  the  sin-offering.  The  violations  of 
theocratic  law,  for  which  trespass-offerings  in  distinc- 
tion from  sin-offerings  must  be  presented,  were  such  as 
infringed  upon  the  rights  of  property.  Accordingly, 
where  reparation  was  possible,  it  must  accompany  the 
presentation  of  the  sacrifice.  For  example :  If  one  had 
trespassed  in  holy  things  by  inadvertently  retaining 
something  which  was  due  to  Jehovah,  he  might  bring 
a  trespass  -  offering  accompanied  with  an  equivalent 
of  what  had  been  withheld,  increased  by  the  addition  of 
one-fifth,  under  the  assurance  that  the  priest  should 
make  an  atonement  for  him,  and  it  should  be  forgiven 
him.^  In  like  manner,  if  one  had  robbed  his  brother  by 
any  fraud  or  suppression  of  the  truth,  in  a  business  trans- 
action, he  might  bring  a  trespass-offering  accompanied 
with  restoration  of  the  principal  with  one -fifth  part 
added  thereto,  which  he  must  "  give  unto  him  to  whom 
it  appertaineth  in  the  day  of  his  trespass-offering."  He 
was  then  authorized  to  believe  that  the  sin  he  had  com- 
mitted against  Jehovah  was  pardoned.^  A  Nazarite  who, 
before  the  expiration  of  his  vow,  accidentally  became 
defiled,  must  bring  a  trespass-offering,  and  begin  anew  to 
count  the  days  of  his  separation,  which,  by  his  own  gift, 
belonged  to  God.  In  this  last  case,  there  is  compensa- 
tion, but  without  the  addition  of  a  fifth  part.'^ 

1  Lev.  V.  15-19. 
"  Lev.  vi.  1-6. 

3  There  are  five  specifications  in  the  books  of  Moses  requiring  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  trespass-offering,  three  of  which  have  been  mentioned  in  the  text. 


70  HISTORY  OF  THE    T  IBERNACLE. 

The  animal  brought  for  a  trespass-offering  was  always 
a  ram  ;  no  difference  being  made,  as  in  the  sin-offering, 
between  a  private  person,  a  ruler,  and  a  priest.  A 
gradation  was  marked,  however,  in  the  importance  of 
the  trespass,  by  the  provision,  in  certain  cases,  that  the 
animal  should  be  a  young  ram,  a  lamb  of  the  first  year,^ 
while  in  other  cases  the  age  was  not  prescribed,  but  the 
priest  was  empowered  to  decide  how  valuable  an  offering 
must  be  brought.^  The  ceremonial  of  the  sacrifice  was 
the  same  as  of  the  sin-offering  ;  with  the  exception  that 
the  blood  was  sprinkled  on  two  diagonally  opposite 
corners  of  the  altar,  so  as  to  touch  all  its  four  sides,  and 
never  as  in  any  of  the  three  grades  of  sin-offering. 

The  burnt-offering,  or  holocaust,  was  an  institution 
existent  before  the  law  of  Sinai,  by  which  it  was  adopted 
as  a  feature  of  the  tabernacle  service.  The  name  itself 
is  applied  to  the  offering  of  animals  upon  the  altar  by 
Noah  when  he  came  out  of  the  ark ;  and  the  sacrifice  of 
Abel,  though  mentioned  under  a  more  generic  appella- 
tion, seems  to  have  been  coincident  in  its  import  with 
that  of  a  burnt-offering  under  the  law  of  Moses. 

As  expiation  was  the  chief  element  in  the  idea  of  a  sin- 
offering,  so  was  self-dedication  in  the  idea  of  a  holocaust. 
But,  as  the  choicest  part  of  a  sin-offering  was  given  to 


The  other  two  do  not  illustrate  the  peculiarity  of  this  kind  of  sacrifice,  and  do  not,  at 
first  view,  even  seem  consistent  with  what  we  have  alleged  to  be  its  peculiar  princi- 
ple. A  critical  study  of  them,  however,  will,  it  is  believed,  prove  that  they  come 
under  the  class  of  sins  which  trespass  upon  rights  of  property.  The  subject  is 
well  treated  in  the  article,  "  Opfercultus,"  by  Oehler,  in  Herzog's  Real-Encyklo- 
padie. 

1  Lev.  xiv.  12;  Num.  vi.  12. 

2  Lev.  V.  15-18  ;  Ibid  vi.  6, 


THE  SACRIFICES  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  71 

the  fire  to  express  the  seli-consecration  of  the  pardoned 
sinner,  so  the  burnt-offering  was  not  representative  of 
dedication  to  the  exclusion  of  atonement ;  for  some 
of  the  blood  of  the  victim  was  sprinkled  for  expiation. 

Provision  was  made  by  the  law  for  both  stated  and 
occasional  burnt-offerings,  the  latter  being  brought  by 
some  individual  "  of  his  own  voluntary  will."  For  the 
former  class,  the  law  of  course  prescribed  what  animals 
must  be  offered,  and  for  the  latter  class  permitted  the 
offerer  to  bring  a  bullock,  a  lamb,  or  a  kid  ;  but  it  must 
be  of  the  male  sex,  and  unblemished.  The  offerer  placed 
his  hand  on  the  head  of  the  victim,  which  he  then  slew 
with  his  own  hand.  The  priest  having  sprinkled  it's 
blood,  cut  up  the  body  and  placed  it  on  the  altar,  reserv- 
ing only  the  skin  as  his  perquisite.  One  might  even 
bring  a  dove  or  a  pigeon  as  a  freewill  holocaust,^  nor  is 
there  any  intimation  in  the  law  that  this  was  a  provision 
for  the  poor ;  though,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  those 
who  were  not  poor  would,  in  making  a  freewill  oblation, 
bring  a  more  costly  sacrifice. 

Meat-offerings  are  next  to  be  considered.  We  must 
at  the  beginning  disinthrall  ourselves  from  the  mistake 
that  meat  is  the  synonyme  of  flesh  ;  for  the  material  of 
sacrifices  of  this  class  was  from  the  vegetable  kingdom 
exclusively.  As  the  word  meat  is  now  wsQd,  food-offer- 
ing would  better  represent  what  the  English  version 
terms  a  meat-offering.  It  was  prepared  from  wheat,  and 
might  be  presented  in  different  forms.  The  statute 
mentions  first,  fine  flour ;  secondly,  cakes  of  four  kinds  ; 
and  thirdly,  wheat  in  the  grain,  which  had  been  roasted 

1  Lev.  i.  14. 


72  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

in  the  green  ears,  and  rubbed  out  with  the  hands.  In  all 
this  variety  the  food  was,  in  one  mode  or  another,  short- 
ened with  oHve-oil,  and  seasoned  with  salt.  In  whatever 
form  the  food-offering  was  brought,  it  must  be  accom- 
panied with  frankincense.  A  small  portion  of  the  food, 
and  all  the  frankincense,  was  to  be  burned  on  the  altar  : 
the  remaining  food  belonged  to  the  priests.^ 

The  idea  involved  is  evidently  a  consecration  to  God 
of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  of  which  the  food-offering  was 
a  representative  part.  This  species  of  oblation  was 
ordinarily  an  appendage  to  a  holocaust. 

Drink-offerings  were  of  wine.  When  one  was  pre- 
sented, it  was  an  accompaniment  of  a  food-offering  ;  and 
the  two  offerings,  though  two  in  name,  were  identical  in 
principle,  since  the  wine,  as  a  product  of  the  earth,  had 
the  same  meaning  as  the  flour. 

Peace-offerings  were  sacrifices  of  animals  by  persons 
who,  having  obtained  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  dedi- 
cated themselves  to  Jehovah,  were  at  peace  with  him. 
Accordingly,  while  friendship  with  God  was  the  principal 
idea  represented,  expiation  and  dedication  were  com- 
bined with  it ;  for  the  blood  of  the  victim  was  sprinkled 
on'  the  altar,  and  portions  of  the  flesh  were  burned  in  the 
fire.  They  were  of  three  species  ;  namely,  thank-offer- 
ings, votive  offerings,  and  freewill  offerings.  In  the 
first  species,  the  sacrificer  expressed  gratitude  for  favors 
conferred  by  the  spontaneous  grace  of  God  ;  in  the 
second,  he  fulfilled  a  promise  previously  made  to  offer 
such  a  sacrifice  if  he  received  a  certain  favor ;  in   the 

1  Lev.  ii.  1-3. 


THE  SACRIFICES  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  73 

third,  he  supplicated  a  favor,  as  had  been  done  anticipa- 
tively  in  the  second,  but  chose  to  make  his  sacrifice 
unconditionally  and  immediately,  rather  than  to  vow. 

The  offerer  might  select  his  peace-offerings  from  his 
herd  or  his  flock ;  and  they  might  be  either  male  or 
female  at  his  pleasure.  When  he  had  placed  his  hand 
on  the  head  of  the  victim,  he  slew  it ;  and  the  priest 
sprinkled  its  blood  on  the  four  sides  of  the  altar  as  in 
trespass-offerings  and  burnt-offerings.  The  flesh  being 
then  cut  into  parts,  the  breast  was  waved  with  a  horizon- 
tal motion  in  token  of  its  consecration,  and  became  the 
property  of  the  priests  in  common,  which  they  might 
carry  away  from  the  sanctuary  to  eat  at  home  with  their 
families  ;  and  the  right  hind-leg,^  being  heaved  with  a 
vertical  motion,  became  the  perquisite  of  the  individual 
priest  who  officiated.  The  remainder  of  the  flesh  be- 
longed to  the  worshipper,  who  was  at  liberty  to  carry  it 
away  from  the  sanctuary,  and  place  it  on  a  festal  board 
for  the  entertainment  of  his  friends.  Such  a  feast  ac- 
quired, however,  from  this  flesh  which  had  been  offered 
in  sacrifice,  an  element  of  sacredness  and  worship  ;  so 
that  to  eat  of  it  was  to  partake  at  the  table  of  Jehovah.^ 

1  The  English  version,  the  Septuagint,  the  Vulgate,  and  Luther's  translation, 
have  shoulder ;  but  there  is  no  satisfactory  evidence  that  the  Hebrew  word  was 
applied  to  the  fore-leg.  It  is  derived  from  a  verb  signifying  io  rim,  and  is  used 
to  denote  the  human  thigh.  Gesenius  and  Ewakl  agree  that  when  used  to  desig- 
nate the  part  of  a  peace-offering  which  was  heaved,  it  signified  a  t/ii^/i  or  hind-leg. 
The  breast  and  tlie  hind-legs  being  the  best  of  the  flesh,  the  portion  of  the  priests 
was  apparently  for  that  reason  taken  from  those  parts. 

-  This  idea  that  a  sacrificial  feast  implied  that  the  guests  joined  in  the  worship 
of  the  Deity  to  whom  the  sacrifice  was  offered,  naturally  raised  the  question 
whether  it  was  lawful  to  eat  flesh  which  had  been  offered  in  sacrifice  to  an  idol. 
The  question  is  discussed  in  i  Cor.  viii.  i  ct  scq. 

It  would  seem  from  i  Cor.  x.  16-iS,  that  the  writer  regarded  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per as  a  feast  at  wliich  the  communicants  partake  of  the  great  archetypal  sacrifice 
in  like  manner  as,  under  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  they  who  ate  the  flesh  of  a  peace- 
offering  were  partakers  of  the  altar. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    LUSTRATIONS    OF    THE    TABERNACLE. 

As  the  tribe  of  Levi  were  separated  from  their  breth- 
ren, to  be  attendants  of  the  tabernacle,  so  the  whole 
Hebrew  people  were  set  apart  from  the  rest  of  mankind, 
as  "  a  kingdom  of  priests  and  a  holy  nation."  ^  Indeed, 
the  consecration  of  the  whole  community  preceded  both 
the  appointment  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  to  the  service  of  the 
sanctuary,  and  the  calling  of  Aaron  to  the  priesthood, 
as  a  brief  history  of  the  transaction  will  evince. 

Immediately  after  the  fugitives  from  Egypt  had  arrived 
at  Sinai,  and  before  they  had  received  any  intimation 
that  they  were  to  build  a  sanctuary,  Jehovah  proposed 
that  they  should  enter  into  a  covenant  with  him,  the 
conditions  of  which  were  at  that  time  only  summarily 
mentioned.^  When  they  had  expressed  their  willingness 
to  do  so,  the  stipulations  of  the  covenant  were  recited 
at  length,  and  accepted  ;  the  people  answering  with  one 
voice,  "  All  the  words  which  Jehovah  hath  said  will  we 
do."  ^  Moses  then  committed  to  writing  the  require- 
ments and  promises  of  God,  which  had  been  before  orally 
communicated,  and  read  them  in  the  audience  of  the 
people  assembled  for  a  formal  and  solemn  ratification  of 
the  mutual  engagement.  The  audible  response  of  the 
Hebrews,  accepting  the  covenant  as  it  had  been  read,  and 
promising  fidelity  to  its  obligations,  was  followed  by  a 

1  Exod.  xix.  6.  2  Exod.  xix.  4-6.  3  Exod.  xxiv.  3. 

74 


THE  LUSTRATIONS  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.        75 

sacramental  ceremony,  representing  the  fellowship  of  the 
two  parties,  and  their  union  in  this  transaction.  Moses, 
having  sprinkled  on  the  altar  one-half  of  the  blood  of 
the  sacrifices  offered  in  connection  with  this  solemnity, 
sprinkled  the  other  half  on  the  people,  to  signify  their 
participation  with  the  altar  and  the  God  whom  it  repre- 
sented. They  were  thus  consecrated,  or  sealed,  as  a 
holy  nation,  distinguished  from  other  nations  by  being 
in  covenant  with  God.  "  Moses  took  the  blood,  and 
sprinkled  it  on  the  people,  and  said,  Behold  the  blood  of 
the  covenant,  which  Jehovah  hath  made  with  you  con- 
cerning all  these  words."  ^ 

The  Hebrews,  having  thus  been  brought  into  covenant 
with  Jehovah,  were  required  to  build  a  habitation  for 
him,  in  which  he  might  dwell  among  them.  When  it 
had  been  erected,  he  came  in  the  pillar  of  cloud,  and  took 
visible  possession  of  it  as  his  future  dwelling-place. 

Obviously  his  presence  in  their  encampment  obliged 
them  to  remove  from  it  whatever  he  might  stigmatize 
as  offensive.  Every  thing  must  be  arranged  and  con- 
ducted in  deference  to  the  wishes  of  one  who  had  right- 
ful authority,  and  was  clothed  with  power  to  maintain  it. 
As  he  was  holy,  they  must  be  holy,  or  awaken  his  dis- 
pleasure. As  sensuality,  injustice,  or  idolatry,  was  to 
him  an  abomination,  they  must  be  sober,  righteous,  and 
monotheistic.  Even  the  defects  of  those  who,  so  far 
from  surrendering  themselves  to  the  dominion  of  sin, 
were  endeavoring  to  keep  his  commandments,  needed  to 
be  covered  from  the  eye  which  can  look  with  satisfaction 
only  on  what  is  absolutely  without  blemish. 

By  their  consecration  as  the  people  of  the  covenant, 
the  Hebrews  were  formally  holy,  and  qualified  to  main- 

1  Exod.  xxiv.  8. 


76  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

tain  the  worship  of  the  tabernacle  ;  but  they  must  also 
be  holy  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  obeying  all  the  command- 
ments of  Jehovah.  Such  an  obligation  to  universal  and 
constant  obedience  would,  of  course,  frequently  awaken 
the  consciousness  of  sin ;  and  therefore  provision  was 
made  for  assuring  those  who  endeavored  to  do  right,  but 
were  accused  by  conscience  of  some  specific  neglect  or 
violation  of  law,  that  they  were  forgiven,  and  still  re- 
garded as  members  of  the  holy  nation.  When  the  law 
of  Sinai,  with  its  greater  extent  and  particularity  of 
requirement,  superseded  the  more  general  legislation  of 
former  ages,  it  established  a  sacrifice  especially  signifi- 
cant of  forgiveness  ;  that,  while  the  people  of  the  cove- 
nant were  educated  to  greater  strictness  of  life,  they 
might  have  corresponding  encouragement  in  the  conflict 
with  evil.  Every  transgression  of  law  which  was  not 
wilful  and  presumptuous  might  be  purged  away  by  means 
of  a  sin-offering ;  and  such  lustration  assured  the  person 
who  brought  the  sacrifice  that  he  retained  his  standing 
in  the  holy  nation,  and  was  still  counted  among  the  peo- 
ple of  God. 

When  an  individual  became  conscious  that  he  had 
violated  any  law  of  Jehovah^  he  must  bring  a  sin-offering 
to  the  altar,  that  the  priest,  having  made  an  expiation 
for  him,  might  pronounce  him  absolved  from  his  guilt. 
There  was  provision  that,  whenever  it  had  become 
known  that  the  nation  had  transgressed  the  law,  similar 
rites  of  lustration  should  be  performed  in  behalf  of 
the  community,  to  signify  that  the  sin  was  cancelled. 
Besides  these  ceremonies  of  purification  provided  for 
sins  of  which  the  people  had  become  aware,  there  were 
periodical  lustrations  appointed  in  recognition  of  possible 


THE  LUSTRATIONS   OF   THE    TABERNACLE.         77 

offences  that  might  have  vanished  from  the  memory,  and 
even  escaped  notice  at  the  time  of  commission.  On  the 
first  day  of  each  month,  a  sacrifice  for  sin  was  presented 
in  the  name  of  the  whole  people ;  and  on  the  first  day  of 
the  seventh  month  it  was  duplicated.  The  tenth  of  the 
same  month  was  always  observed  as  a  day  of  atonement, 
when  with  great  solemnity  the  priests  and  the  people 
were  lustrated  anew.  The  ritual  of  the  day  of  pente- 
cost,  and  of  the  whole  week  of  the  festival  of  taber- 
nacles, demanded  also  sacrifices  for  sin  in  the  name  of 
the  community. 

But  the  presence  of  their  God  in  the  midst  of  their 
encampment  required  of  the  Hebrews  care  not  merely  to 
avoid  immorality,  but  to  exhibit  such  outward  tokens  of 
reverence  as  were  in  vogue,  and  in  accordance  with  the 
prevalent  style  of  civilization.  Oriental  usage  prescribed 
to  inferiors  and  dependents,  in  addition  to  a  very  demon- 
strative exhibition  of  reverence  toward  those  that  were 
in  power,  by  means  of  attitudes  and  gestures,  a  scrupu- 
lous attention  to  personal  cleanliness  when  admitted  to 
their  presence.  Such  a  requirement  may  have  origi- 
nated in  the  necessities  of  the  climate  ;  neglect  of  clean- 
liness being  sooner  evident,  and  more  offensive,  than 
in  colder  countries.  Whatever  its  origin,  such  a  law  of 
etiquette  was,  in  the  time  of  Moses,  fixed  in  the  civiliza- 
tion not  only  of  the  people  among  whom  he  had  been 
educated,  but  of  other  nations.  The  non-observance  of  it 
by  inferiors  would  have  been  esteemed  an  insult  to  those 
entitled  to  deference  ;  and  the  non-enforcement  of  it  by 
those  in  authority  would  have  subverted  the  structure  of 
society.  7* 


78  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

The  purification  of  the  person,  as  a  preliminary  to  ad- 
mission into  the  presence  of  royalty,  being  enjoined,  the 
regulation  was  easily  extended  so  as  to  include  the  re- 
moval of  conventional  as  well  as  real  uncleanness ;  con- 
tact with  certain  things  proscribed  as  offensive  being 
regarded  as  a  pollution  to  be  in  all  cases  ceremonially 
removed,  even  when  there  was  no  real  defilement. 

Bearing  in  mind  these  laws  of  Oriental  etiquette,  we 
shall  not  think  it  strange  that  the  people,  in  the  midst  of 
whose  encampment  Jehovah  dwelt,  must  carefully  avoid 
every  defilement  of  the  person,  real  or  conventional.  In 
view  of  their  constant  nearness  to  his  habitation,  their 
representative  participation  in  its  services,  and  their 
occasional  presentation  of  themselves  at  the  entrance  or 
even  within  the  court,  we  might  expect  to  find  that  rules 
had  been  prescribed  for  them  in  regard  to  ceremonial 
defilement  and  ceremonial  purification.  Such  regula- 
tions were  not  omitted  from  the  code  of  Sinai.  The 
demonstrations  of  reverence  demanded  by  monarchs,  and 
accorded  by  their  subjects,  were  not  to  be  withholden 
by  the  Hebrews  from  the  invisible  Being  who  dwelt 
among  them  as  their  King  and  their  God. 

A  system  of  conventional  cleanness  and  defilement 
was  established,  which  obliged  every  individual  to  bear 
constantly  in  mind  the  presence  of  Jehovah,  under  pen- 
alty of  temporary  excision  from  the  privilege  of  being 
represented  in  the  worship  of  the  sanctuary,  of  eating- 
the  flesh  of  peace-offerings  sanctified  through  presenta- 
tion at  the  altar,  of  coming  to  join  in  the  worship  at  the 
door  of  the  court,  and  of  bringing  a  sacrifice  within  the 
sacred  enclosure.  Whoever,  forgetting  the  presence  of 
Jehovah,  and  the  ceremonial  purity  due  to  his  presence, 


THE  LUSTRATIONS  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.        79 

should  merely  touch  any  thing  offensive,  became  defiled, 
and  suffered  such  temporary  excision.  He  could  not  even 
representatively  approach  the  Holy  One  of  Israel.  In 
some  cases  of  exceeding  offensiveness,  the  unclean  person 
was  not  allowed  within  the  bounds  of  the  encampment. 

Ritual  defilement  did  not,  however,  necessarily  imply 
blame.  Sometimes  it  was  involuntary ;  as,  for  example, 
when  a  person  was  rendered  unclean  by  disease.  A 
leper  was  unclean,  even  if  not  responsible  for  his  lep- 
rosy;, he  must  live  apart,  and  give  notice,  when  ap- 
proached, of  his  condition,  by  crying,  "  Unclean,  un- 
clean ! "  Sometimes  it  was  incurred  in  the  discharge  of 
duty ;  as,  for  instance,  in  the  burial  of  the  dead,  and  in 
the  performance  of  certain  services  incidental  to  the 
fulfilment  of  the  law,  such  as  the  burning  of  the  heifer 
to  prepare  water  of  separation,^  the  sprinkling  of  the 
water  of  separation  on  those  who  were  defiled  by  contact 
with  the  dead,2  the  leading  away  of  the  scape-goat  on  the 
day  of  atonement,^  and  the  burning  of  the  two  sin-offer- 
ings on  the  same  anniversary.*  As  there  could  be  no 
blame  in  the  performance  of  these  requirements  of  the 
ritual,  and  none,  in  some  cases,  at  least,  of  disease,  it  fol- 
lows that  ritual  defilement  did  not  directly  imply  fault. 
It  was  simply  a  disqualification  for  entering  the  habita- 
tion of  God. 

But  though  ritual  uncleanness  was  different  from  sin, 
and  might  be  contracted  without  any  immediate  fault, 
the  mere  lapse  of  time  was  no  more  effectual  to  remove 
it  than  to  take  away  guilt.  Rites  of  lustration  were  as 
necessary  to  show  that  an  unclean  person  was  cleansed 
from  his  defilement,  and  entitled  to  his  former  privileges, 

1  Num.  xix.  7,  8.        2  Num.  xix.  21.        3  Lev.  xvi.  26.        4  Lev.   xvi,  28, 


So  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

as  ihey  were  to  set  forth  that  a  transgressor  of  law  was 
forgiven,  and  retained  in  favor.  The  ceremonies  differed 
in  the  two  representations  so  as  to  correspond  with  the 
pecuUarities  of  each  case;  but  sin  and  uncleanness 
equally  required  lustration. 

Ritual  defilement  was  not,  in  all  instances,  of  equal  du- 
ration. In  many  cases  it  could  be  terminated,  the  same 
day  in  which  it  was  acquired,  by  washing  either  the  person 
or  the  clothes,  or  by  washing  both  the  person  and  the 
clothes.  In  some  kinds  of  uncleanness,  the  interdict  con- 
tinued for  an  indefinite  period,  till,  the  reason  for  it  having 
ceased,  the  ban  itself  was  removed  with  solemnities 
appointed  for  that  particular  species  of  defilement.  For 
example,  one  who  had  been  afflicted  with  leprosy  might, 
when  restored  to  health,  be  also  restored  to  all  the  privi- 
leges of  the  theocracy  by  the  prescribed  rites  of  a  week 
of  purification,  ending  with  a- sin-offering  and  a  holocaust. 
It  is  a  natural  inference,  that  the  defilement  soonest  and 
with  least  difficulty  eliminated  was  esteemed  less  offen- 
sive than  one  which  could  be  removed  only  after  a  longer 
exclusion,  and  with  more  solemn  rites  of  lustration. 

Defilement  by  excretion  from  the  organs  of  reproduc- 
tion was  of  the  lowest  grade,  requiring  for  its  removal  in 
ordinary  cases  simply  the  application  of  water.  But,  if 
occasioned  by  disease,  sacrifices  of  expiation  and  dedica- 
tion must  be  offered.  The  uncleanness  of  a  woman  in 
childbirth  extended  through  forty  days  if  her  child  was" 
a  son,  and  through  a  period  twice  as  long  if  she  had  given 
birth  to  a  daughter  ;  her  purification  commencing,  in  the 
first  case,  with  the  circumcision  of  the  boy,  and  continu- 
ing sixty-six  days.  When  the  days  of  her  purification 
were  accomplished,  she  might  be  restored  to  the  privi- 


THE  LUSTRATIONS   OF  THE    TABERNACLE.        8i 

leges  of  the  sanctuary  by  presenting  a  dove  as  a  sin- 
offering,  and  a  lamb  as  a  burnt-offering.  If  poor,  she 
might  present  a  second  dove  instead  of  a  lamb,  as  did 
the  Virgin  Mary  at  the  birth  of  our  Lord. 

Defilement  by  contact  with  the  carcass  of  an  animal 
which  had  died  otherwise  than  by  the  hand  of  man, 
required  for  its  removal  that  both  the  person  and  the 
clothes  should  be  washed.  "  The  uncleanness  commu- 
nicated by  a  human  corpse,  whether  after  a  violent  or  a 
natural  death,  was  much  more  intense  in  its  character. 
Every  tent  or  house  in  which  there  was  a  corpse,  as  well 
as  all  the  people  in  it,  and  all  the  vessels  that  were 
standing  about,  were  rendered  unclean  for  seven  days, 
during  which  time  the  people  themselves  were  to  remain 
outside  the  camp.  Contact  with  a  corpse  found  in  the 
open  country  defiled  for  the  same  period ;  also  contact 
with  graves,  and  the  ashes  of  the  dead.  This  un- 
cleanness also  passed  from  the  persons  affected  by  it 
to  every  thing  they  touched  ;  but  in  this  case  it  only 
lasted  till  the  evening.  The  uncleanness  which  pro- 
ceeded directly  from  the  corpse  itself  to  persons  and 
things,  could  only  be  removed  by  sprinkling-water 
(water  of  separation)  prepared  expressly  for  the  pur- 
pose. And,  in  the  case  of  persons,  a  subsequent  bathing 
of  the  body,  and  washing  of  the  clothes,  were  also 
required.  To  obtain  this  sprinkling-water,  a  spotless  red 
heifer  that  had  never  borne  a  yoke  was  slain  as  a  sin- 
offering  outside  the  camp.  The  son  or  presumptive 
successor  to  the  high-priest  ofBciated  on  the  occasion, 
and  sprinkled  some  of  the  blood  seven  times  towards 
the  sanctuary.  The  cow  was  then  burnt  along  with  the 
skin,  the  flesh,  the  bones,  the  blood,  and  the  dung ;  and 


82  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

cedar-wood,  coccus-wool,  and  hyssop,  were  also  thrown 
into  the  fire.  All  the  persons  who  officiated  at  this 
ceremony  became  unclean  till  the  evening,  and  were 
required  to  wash  their  bodies  and  their  clothes.  When- 
ever a  death  occurred,  a  clean  man  put  some  of  these 
ashes  into  a  vessel,  poured  fresh  water  upon  them, 
dipped  a  bundle  of  hyssop  into  the  water,  and  sprinkled 
the  persons  or  things  to  be  cleansed  on  the  third  day, 
and  again  on  the  seventh.  He  also  became  unclean  in 
consequence,  and  had  to  wash  himself  and  his  clothes."  ^ 
The  uncleanness  of  leprosy  excluded  not  only  from 
the  sanctuary,  but  from  the  camp ;  and  lustration  from 
it,  as  it  involved  a  twofold  restoration,  was  performed  in 
two  stages.  It  being  ascertained  that  the  disease  was 
healed,  the  unclean  person  was  first  so  far  relieved  from 
his  disabilities  that  he  might  enter  the  camp.  This  was 
done  with  the  following  rites,  namely :  the  officiating 
priest  took  two  birds,  "alive  and  clean,"  and,  having 
killed  one  of  them  over  a  vessel  containing  living  water, 
dipped  the  other  bird  along  with  cedar-wood,  coccus- 
wool,  and  hyssop,  in  the  mixture  of  blood  and  water, 
sprinkled  the  unclean  person  seven  times  with  the  same 
mixture,  and  set  at  liberty  the  bird  he  had  dipped.  The 
leper  then  washed  his  clothes,  shaved  all  the  hair  from 
his  body,  bathed  himself,  and,  having  done  so,  was  at 
liberty  to  go  into  the  camp,  but  not  into  the  court  of  the 
tabernacle.  A  week  later  he  was  restored  to  the  privi-" 
leges  of  the  sanctuary  by  a  second  act  in  the  ceremo- 
nies of  lustration,  commencing,  as  the  first  act  had 
ended,  with  shaving  off  all  his  hair,  washing  his  clothes, 

1  Kurtz  :  Sacrificial  Worsliip  of  the  Old  Testament.     Edinburgh,  1863.     P. 
422,  et  seq. 


THE  LUSTRATIONS  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.        83 

and  bathing  his  person.  This  took  place  on  the  seventh 
day  of  the  ceremonial.  On  the  eighth  day,  or  just  one 
week  after  the  lustration  was  commenced,  it  was  com- 
pleted with  three  sacrifices  ;  a  male  lamb  for  a  trespass- 
offering,  a  female  lamb  for  a  sin-offering,  and  a  male 
lamb  for  a  burnt-offering,  together  with  a  food-offering 
of  flour  and  oil.  If  the  leper  was  poor,  two  doves  might 
be  accepted  in  place  of  the  two  Iambs  for  the  sin-offer- 
ing and  the  burnt-offering;  but  the  trespass-offering 
was  so  important  to  the  ceremony  that  no  abatement  of 
that  part  might  be  allowed.  The  ceremonial  was  as  fol- 
lows, namely :  the  priest  waved  the  lamb  of  the  trespass- 
offering  together  with  the  oil  of  the  food-offering, 
slaughtered  the  lamb,  and  smeared  some  of  its  blood  on 
the  tip  of  the  right  ear,  the  thumb  of  the  right  hand,  and 
the  great  toe  of  the  right  foot,  of  the  leper.  He  then 
poured  some  of  the  oil  into  the  palm  of  his  own  left  hand, 
dipped  his  finger,  and  sprinkled  seven  times  toward  the 
sanctuary ;  afterward  he  applied  the  remainder  of  the  oil 
to  the  body  of  him  who  was  to  be  restored,  smearing  first 
the  parts  which  had  been  smeared  with  blood,  and  then 
pouring  on  the  head.  The  ceremonial  concluded  with 
the  presentation  of  the  sin-offering  and  the  burnt-offer- 
ing: in  the  usual  manner. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  CALENDAR  OF  THE  TABERNACLE. 

Specifications  were  communicated  to  Moses  not 
only  for  building  the  tabernacle,  but  for  instituting  with- 
in it  ceremonies  of  divine  service,  both  regular  and 
occasional.  Our  studies  in  regard  to  its  construction,  its 
equipment,  its  erection,  its  attendants,  its  lustrations, 
and  its  sacrifices,  have  been  necessary  preliminaries  to 
an  examination  of  its  calendar  of  worship. 

Of  the  daily  service  as  conducted  in  the  temple  in 
later  years,  Lightfoot  has  compiled  out  of  the  Jewish 
traditions  a  circumstantial  description.  From  a  com- 
parison of  these  traditions  concerning  the  service  in  the 
temple  at  Jerusalem,  with  the  accounts  of  it  contained  in 
the  inspired  Scriptures,  we  may  learn  how  to  supply  the 
omissions  of  the  Pentateuch  concerning  the  details  of 
the  daily  service  of  the  sanctuary  in  the  wilderness. 
For  the  ritual  of  worship  was  substantially  the  same  in 
the  tabernacle  as  in  the  edifice  of  stone  which  succeeded' 
it,  —  substantially  the  same  ;  for  no  doubt  the  difference 
in  the  edifices  required  some  change  in  the  details,  and 
the  ritual  was  not  so  unalterably  fixed  that  no  additions 
could  be  made  to  the  service  as  the  nation  increased  in 
numbers,  and  advanced  in  literary  and  assthetic  culture. 
84 


THE   CALENDAR   OF   THE    TABERNACLE.  85 

When  King  David  brought  the  ark,  whicli  had  been  a 
long  time  separated  from  the  tabernacle,  into  Jerusalem, 
he  established  in  connection  with  it  a  daily  service  of 
praise,  in  \yhich  psalms  were  chanted  with  accompani- 
ments of  cymbals,  harps,  and  psalteries  in  the  hands  of 
jLevites  skilled  in  music,  in  addition  to  the  silver  trum- 
Ipets  blown  by  priests.  During  the  remainder  of  his  reign, 
as  well  as  for  a  short  period  after  the  accession  of  Solo- 
mon, this  service  of  song  and  instruments  before  the 
tent  which  contained  the  ark  was  continued;  while  the 
tabernacle,  which  had  been  brought  from  Sinai,  was  yet 
standing  in  another  place,  with  its  sacrificial  altar,  on 
which  alone  the  appointed  daily  sacrifices  could  be  pre- 
sented. Accordingly  the  worship  of  the  nation  was  for 
the  time  divided,  and  remained  so  till,  the  temple  being 
completed,  the  services  which  had  been  performed  in  the 
Sinaitic  tabernacle  at  Gibeon,  and  the  service  of  praise 
which  had  been  established  in  Jerusalem,  were  united. 

Henceforth  music  was  an  important  part  of  the  morn- 
ing and  evening  worship,  whereas  at  first  there  had  been 
music  only  on  the  first  day  of  the  several  months,  and 
some  other  eminent  days  ;  when  two  silver  trumpets  were 
blown  by  priests  at  the  time  of  the  morning  and  evening 
sacrifices.  But  this  consecration  of  poetry  and  music, 
highly  appropriate  as  it  was  when  the  nation  had  made 
so  great  progress  in  these  arts,  and  the  monarch  himself 
was  a  poet  and  a  musician,  was  an  addition  to,  rather 
than  an  alteration  of,  the  ritual  of  former  years  ;  which 
remained  hereafter,  as  it  had  continued  hitherto,  sub- 
stantially the  same  as  when  established  at  Sinai. 

In  our  survey  of  the  services  of  the  tabernacle  as 
they  were  performed  from  day  to  day  throughout  the 


86  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

year,  it  will  be  in  order  to  speak  only  of  those  which 
being  established  at  Sinai  were  essential  and  unalterable 
features  of  the  institution,  leaving  out  of  view  such  as 
were  afterward  appended.  , 

The  daily  service  was  performed  in  the  following 
order.  Every  thing  having  been  made  ready,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  preceding  evening,  the  priests  who  were  to 
officiate  were  called  at  a  very  early  hour  by  the  Levites 
on  duty  as  watchmen.  The  priests,  having  washed  their 
hands  and  feet  at  the  laver  in  the  court,  proceeded  to 
prepare  the  sacrificial  altar,  removing  the  ashes,  piling 
on  fresh  fuel,  and  carefully  replacing  any  remnants  of 
the  evening  sacrifice  not  yet  consumed.  This  prepara- 
tion of  the  altar  ordinarily  began  at  the  dawn  of  day. 
but  on  occasions  of  uncommon  solemnity  at  a  still 
earlier  hour.  A  lamb  which  had  been  previously  in- 
spected, and  pronounced  free  from  blemish,  was  then 
brought  to  the  north  side  of  the  altar,  and  slain.  The 
blood  having  been  received  into  a  dish  sacred  to  that 
use,  some  of  it  was  thrown  upon  two  diagonally  opposite 
corners  of  the  altar  in  such  a  manner  that  all  the  sides 
of  the  altar  were  sprinkled  with  it,  and  the  remainder 
was  poured  out  upon  the  ground  at  the  base  of  the  altar. 
The  body  was  then  flayed,  divided  into  pieces,  and 
sprinkled  with  salt.  Simultaneously  with  these  pro- 
ceedings, another  priest  prepared  the  altar  of  incense,  - 
and  the  lamps,  in  the  Jioly  place ;  removing  the  ashes 
from  the  former,  and  replenishing  the  latter  with  wicks 
and  oil.  The  next  thing  in  order  was  the  burning  of 
incense,  which  in  later  times,  at  least,  was  done  upon 
a  signal  given  by  the  presiding  priest  on  the  outside; 


THE   CALENDAR   OF   THE    TABERNACLE.  87 

and,  when  the  signal  was  given,  at  the  same  moment 
ascended  the  cloud  of  incense  from  the  golden  altar 
within,  and  the  prayers  of  those  waiting  without.  After 
an  interval,  the  priest  who  had  officiated  at  the  altar  of 
incense  came  out  of  the  tabernacle,  and,  lifting  his  hands, 
pronounced  upon  the  people  the  prescribed  form  of 
benediction :  "  The  Lord  bless  thee,  and  keep  thee :  the 
Lord  make  his  face  shine  upon  thee,  and  be  gracious 
unto  thee  :  the  Lord  lift  up  his  countenance  upon  thee, 
and  give  thee  peace."  ^  Then  the  parts  of  the  lamb 
which  had  been  slain  were  laid  upon  the  fire;  the  pre- 
scribed accompaniment  of  flour  mingled  with  oil  called 
the  meat-offering  was  brought ;  a  handful  of  it  was 
thrown  upon  the  fire  (the  remainder  being  a  perquisite 
of  the  priests) ;  and  the  drink-offering  of  wine  was 
poured  out  at  the  base  of  the  altar.  The  presentation 
of  the  drink-offering  closed  the  service  as  originally 
instituted ;  but,  in  the  ritual  of  the  temple,  it  was  the 
signal  for  the  musicians  to  commence  chanting  the 
psalm  appointed  for  the  day. 

The  service  at  evening  was  nearly  a  repetition  of  that 
in  the  morning  ;  and  the  purposes  of  our  inquiry  do  not 
oblige  us  to  specify  the  few  and  unimportant  particulars 
in  which  they  differed. 

The  seventh  day  of  the  week,  or  the  sabbath,  was 
signalized  by  the  offering  of  two  lambs  instead  of  one, 
both  in  the  morning  and  in  the  evening,  with  a  corre- 
sponding increase  in  the  quantity  of  the  accompanying 
meat-offerings  and  drink-offerings.  The  show-bread  on 
the  table  in  the  holy  place  was  also  renewed. 

1  Num.  vi.  24-26. 


88  HISTORY  OF   THE    TABERNACLE. 

The  change  of  the  moon  (or,  as  the  Hebrew  months 
coincided  with  the  period  of  the  moon's  revolution 
around  the  earth,  the  first  day  of  every  month)  was 
celebrated  with  a  burnt-offering  of  seven  lambs,  one 
ram,  and  two  bullocks,  in  addition  to  the  daily  sacrifice ; 
the  accompanying  meat-offering  and  drink-offering 
being  proportionately  augmented,  and  the  ceremony 
being  enlivened  by  the  sound  of  trumpets  even  in  the 
early  times  before  music  was  added  to  the  daily  sacrifice. 
The  day  was  still  further  solemnized  by  the  offering  of  a 
young  goat  as  a  sacrifice  for  sin. 

The  month  in  which  the  flight  from  Egypt  took  place 
was  thenceforth  reckoned  as  the  first  month  of  the 
year ;  and,  as  the  fugitives  commenced  their  march  in 
the  night  of  the  full-moon,  the  paschal  supper  which 
commemorated  their  departure  was  celebrated  in  the 
middle  of  that  month. 

The  paschal  lamb  must  be  slain  in  the  evening  fol- 
lowing the  fourteenth  day.  At  the  institution  of  the 
festival  in  Egypt,  it  was  required  that  the  lamb  should  be 
selected  on  the  tenth  of  the  month,  and  kept  in  re- 
serve for  its  holy  destination  four  days  ;  but  the  statutes 
for  the  perpetual  observance  of  the  passover  make  no 
provision  for  the  selection  of  the  animal  four  days  in 
advance,  and  there  is  no  evidence  that  such  was  the  cus- 
tom in  Canaan.  Like  all  animals  intended  for  sacrifice, 
it  must  be  without  blemish.  If  more  convenient,  a  kid 
might  be  used  instead  of  a  lamb.  The  animal  must  be 
roasted  whole,  and  eaten  with  bitter  vegetables  and 
unleavened  bread.  If  families  were  too  small  to  consume 
each  a  lamb,  two  or  more  united  in  the  supper.     If  any 


THE   CALENDAR   OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  89 

of  the  flesh  was  not  eaten  at  the  supper,  it  must  be 
immediately  burned.  The  celebrants  were  to  eat  hastily, 
and  to  come  to  the  table  equipped  for  travel,  being  girt, 
shod,  and  furnished  with  staves. 

During  the  seven  days  commencing  with  the  evening 
of  the  paschal  supper,  namely,  from  the  end  of  the  four- 
teenth to  the  end  of  the  twenty-first  day  of  the  month, 
no  leavened  bread  might  be  eaten,  or  even  kept  in  the 
house  ;  and,  on  account  of  this  prohibition,  the  week  was 
sometimes  called  "  the  days  of  unleavened  bread."  The 
first  and  seventh  of  these  were  celebrated  by  abstinence 
from  labor,  and  a  holy  convocation,  being  two  of  the 
seven  such  days  which  occurred  during  the  year  in 
addition  to  the  weekly  sabbaths.  On  the  first  of  these 
paschal  sabbaths,  all  male  Hebrews  were  required  to  pre- 
sent themselves  before  the  tabernacle,  and  join  in  the 
worship.  It  was  expected  also  that  they  would  bring 
voluntary  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  to  be  slain  as  peace- 
offerings,  and  then  remanded  to  the  offerer,  that  with 
them  he  might  spread  a  festal  table  for  himself  and  his 
friends. 

The  sixteenth  of  the  month,  or  the  day  immedi- 
ately subsequent  to  the  first  of  these  holy  convocations, 
was  the  appointed  time  for  the  presentation  to  Jehovah 
of  the  first  cereal  fruits,  and  is  worthy  of  particular 
notice  as  the  starting-point  from  which  to  count  fifty  days 
to  the  festival  of  harvest,  or  pentecost  as  it  was  called 
from  the  number  of  days  intervening.  At  the  time  of 
the  paschal  festival,  the  barley  was  so  far  advanced 
toward  maturity,  that  some  of  the  earliest  spikes  could 
be  gathered,  and  carried  to  the  tabernacle  as  an  offering ; 
and  at  pentecost  the  grain  of  every  kind  had  been  har- 


90  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

vested.  The  people  were  required  not  to  eat  bread,  or 
parched  grain,  or  green  ears,  till  this  offering  of  the  first 
fruits  had  been  rendered.  The  direction  was  that  it 
should  be  offered  on  the  morrow  after  the  first  holy 
convocation  of  the  paschal  week ;  for  such,  undoubtedly, 
is  the  application  of  the  word  "  sabbath  "  in  the  passage 
enjoining  the  presentation  of  the  sheaf  of  first-fruits.^ 
This  sheaf  was  not,  as  some  have  supposed,  the  private 
offering  of  individuals.  It  was  one  representative  sheaf, 
brought  in  the  name  of  the  whole  people,  with  a  lamb 
for  a  burnt-offering,  and  formally  presented  to  Jeho- 
vah by  the  officiating  priest.  The  food-offering  which 
accompanied  the  lamb  consisted  of  twice  the  usual  quan- 
tity of  flour ;  that  is,  of  two  om£rs  instead  of  one. 

The  days  of  unleavened  bread  intervening  between 
the  second  and  the  seventh  were  marked  only  by  the 
sin-offering  and  the  holocaust  prescribed  for  each  day  of 
the  festival;  both  of  which  were  of  the  same  descrip- 
tion as  on  the  new-moons. 

Pentecost  was  the  second  festival,  in  the  order  of  time, 
which  required  the  presence  of  all  male  Hebrews  at  the 
tabernacle.  It  was  the  festival  of  weeks,  because  seven 
weeks  had  elapsed  since  the  presentation  of  the  sheaf 
on  the  sixteenth  day  of  the  first  month.  It  was  called 
pentecost  because  it  was  the  fiftieth  day  from  the  same 
epoch.  It  was  the  festival  of  the  first-fruits,  because,  the 
cereal  harvest  having  now  been  gathered,  two  loaves  of 
bread  made  of  new  wheat  were  presented  to  Jehovah  by 
waving  them  toward  the  sanctuary.  It  lasted  but  one 
day,  which,  like  the  first  and  seventh  of  the  paschal  week, 

1  Lev.  xxiii.  ii. 


THE   CALENDAR   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 


91 


was  a  day  of  holy  convocation  in  which  no  servile  labor 
might  be  performed.  The  burnt-offering  appointed  for 
the  day  was  the  same  as  at  the  appearance  of  a  new- 
moon,  and  during  the  paschal  week,  as  was  also  the 
sin-offering ;  but  the  presentation  of  the  wave-loaves  occa- 
sioned a  series  of  sacrifices  in  addition  to  those  which 
distinguished  the  day  as  a  festival  without  indicating  its 
peculiar  character.  The  burnt-offering  of  the  festival, 
consisting  of  two  bullocks,  one  ram,  and  seven  lambs,  was 
additional  to  "  the  continual  burnt-offering ;  "  and  the  holo- 
caust of  one  bullock,  one  ram,  and  seven  lambs,  which 
accompanied  and  formed  a  basis  for  the  waving  of  the 
loaves,  was  still  additional  to  the  daily  sacrifice  increased 
by  that  which  belonged  to  the  day  as  an  annual  festival. 
The  special  ceremonies  connected  with  the  waving, 
included  also  a  second  sin-offering,  consisting  of  one 
goat,  and  a  peace-offering  of  two  lambs,  which  were 
waved  with  the  loaves. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  seventh  month  occurred 
another  day  of  holy  convocation,  known  as  the  festival 
of  trumpets  ;  and  as  it  was  a  lunar  festival  distinguishing 
with  special  observances  the  seventh  or  sabbath  moon  of 
the  year  because  it  was  the  seventh,  its  occasional  sacri- 
fices were  additional  to  those  of  other  new-moons. 
They  consisted  of  one  bullock,  one  ram,  and  seven 
lambs  for  a  holocaust,  and  a  goat  for  a  sin-offering. 
This  was  very  nearly  but  not  quite  a  reduplication  of  the 
sacrifices  regularly  offered  at  the  change  of  the  moon, 
the  difference  being  that  only  one  bullock  was  added  to 
the  two  previously  required.  As  this  festival  was  not 
one  of  the  three  which   required  the  presence  of   the 


92  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

people  at  the  tabernacle,  they  remained  at  their  homes  ; 
and  those  who  lived  nearest  to  the  place  which  God  had 
chosen  for  his  habitation,  as  they  heard  the  sound  of 
trumpets  from  the  sanctuary,  transmitted  it  to  those 
more  remote,  till  the  land  was  filled  with  rejoicing.  The 
silver  trumpets  with  which  the  priests  commenced  the 
music  were  also  made  to  emit  a  longer  and  louder  sound 
than  at  the  comn^encement  of  other  months.^  The 
Hebrew  tradition  that  this  was  the  anniversary  of  the 
creation  of  the  world  has  no  confirmation  in  their 
inspired  Scriptures,  and  might  easily  have  its  origin 
from  the  sabbatical  character  imparted  to  the  month  by 
the  ceremonial  with  which  it  commenced. 

Another  holy  convocation,  the  fifth  of  the  year,  oc- 
curred on  the  tenth  of  the  same  month.  It  was  the  day 
of  expiation,  or  atonement,  when  the  sanctuary  itself,  its 
attendants,  and  the  people  in  whose  name  its  worship 
was  offered,  were  purified  anew.  Only  the  high -priest, 
or,  in  case  of  his  incapacity  through  illness  or  defilement, 
one  chosen  as  his  representative,  could  officiate.^  Clad 
in  his  garments  of  gold,  he  first  performed  the  usual 
rites  of  morning  worship,  including  the  sacrifice  of  the 
lamb,  the  burning  of  the  incense,  and  the  trimming  of 
the  lamps,  and  afterward  offered  the  additional  sacrifices 
prescribed  for  this  particular  morning,  consisting  of  one 

1  The  blowing  of  the  trumpets  on  the  seventh  new-moon  differed  from  the  blow- 
ing on  other  new-moons,  as  the  signal  for  a  caravan  to  commence  a  journey  differed 
from  the  signal  for  an  assembly.  —  Num.  x.  7,  compared  with  the  directions  for 
blowing  on  the  new-moons. 

2  A  Jewish  tradition  says  that  it  was  never  necessary  that  a  substitute  should 
officiate  till  the  time  of  Herod  the  Great,  when  the  high-priest,  Matthias,  being 
incapacitated,  Joseph,  his  kinsman,  took  his  place. 


THE   CALENDAR   OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  93 

bullock,  one  ram,  and  seven  lambs  for  a  burnt-offering, 
and  a  goat  for  a  sin-offering.  Then,  disrobing  himself, 
he  put  on  the  pure  white  linen  garments  prescribed  for 
the  special  service  which  characterized  the  day,  and 
brought  to  the  side  of  the  altar  a  bullock  for  a  sin- 
offering,  and  a  ram  for  a  holocaust,  in  behalf  of  himself 
and  his  associates  in  the  priesthood.  Two  goats,  as 
nearly  alike  as  possible,  were  then  brought  and  placed 
before  him ;  one  to  be  slain  as  a  sin-offering  for  the 
people,  and  the  other  to  be  sent  into  the  wilderness  to 
bear  away  their  sins.  Also  a  ram  was  formally  pre- 
sented to  and  accepted  by  him,  to  be  offered  as  a  holo- 
caust in  behalf  of  the  nation,  at  the  end  of  the  special 
services  of  the  day.  He  next  cast  lots  to  determine 
which  of  the  two  goats  should  be  slain,  and  which 
should  be  the  scape-goat.  Having  sacrificed  the  sin- 
offering  which  he  had  brought  for  himself,  he  gave  to  an 
assistant  the  dish  containing  its  blood,  to  be  cared  for 
while  he  went  into  the  innermost  and  holiest  apartment 
of  the  tabernacle.  Carrying  with  him  a  handful  of 
incense,  and  a  golden  censer  of  burning  coals  taken 
from  the  sacrificial  altar,  he  placed  the  censer  before  the 
ark,  threw  the  incense  upon  the  coals,  and  thus  pro- 
duced a  fragrant  cloud  which  enveloped  the  mercy-seat. 
Coming  out  into  the  court,  he  took  the  blood  of  his  own 
sin-offering,  and,  again  entering  the  innermost  apartment, 
sprinkled  some  of  it  upon  the  mercy-seat,  and  seven  | 
times  in  front  of  it.  Returning  to  the  court,  he  killed 
that  one  of  the  two  goats  which  the  lot  had  determined 
to  death,  and,  carrying  the  blood  of  it  into  the  taber-/ 
nacle,  purified  first  the  innermost  apartment  by  sprink-' 
ling  upon  and  before  the  ark  exactly  as  he  had  done 


91-  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

with  the  blood  of  his  own  sin-offering,  afterward  the 
lioly  place,  and  finally  the  altar  of  sacrifice  in  the  court. 
The  sanctuary  being  now  cleansed  from  whatever  taint 
of  uncleanness  it  might  otherwise  have  acquired  from 
the  sins  of  the  people,  the  other  goat  was  brought ;  and 
the  high-priest,  laying  his  hands  upon  its  head,  made 
confession  of  sin  over  it  in  behalf  of  the  whole  people. 
Having  thus  put  their  iniquities,  transgressions,  and  sins 
upon  the  head  of  the  goat,  he  sent  it  away  by  the  hand 
of  a  fit  man  into  the  wilderness,  "  to  bear  upon  it  all 
their  iniquities  unto  a  land  of  separation."  ^  He  then 
brought  out  the  censer  he  had  left  smoking  in  the  Jioly 
of  holies,  and  thus  put  an  end  to  the  only  ceremonies 
pertaining  to  this  apartment  of  the  tabernacle  which  the 
ritual  required  or  permitted  during  the  year. 

The  ceremonial  of  the  sin-offering  being  now  com- 
pleted, the  high-priest  put  off  the  linen  garments  peculiar 
to  the  day,  washed  himself,  and  put  on  the  "  garments  of 
gold "  which  were  the  insignia  of  his  office,  and  offered 
at  the  altar  in  the  court  his  own  burnt-offering,  and  that 
of  the  people.  The  bodies  of  the  two  animals  which  had 
been  slain  as  sin-offerings,  namely,  of  the  bullock  for  the 
priests  and  the  goat  for  the  people,  were  carried  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  camp,  and  burned  to  ashes,  the  fat  being 
first  removed  from  them,  and  consumed  upon  the  altar. 
The  person  who  burned  the  flesh,  and  the  person  who 
led  away  the  goat  into  the  wilderness,  were  both  unclean 
for  the  remainder  of  the  day.  The  usual  tabernacle  ser- 
vice of  the  evening  was  performed  by  the  high-priest  in 
person,  who  at  its  conclusion  retired  to  his  home  and  his 

1  Lev.  xvi.  20—22 ,'  marginal  reading. 


THE   CALEXDAR   OF   THE    TABERNACLE.  95 

family,  from  whom  he  had  lived  apart  during  the  preced- 
ing week  to  be  secure  from  ritual  defilement. 

The  festival  of  tabernacles  commenced  five  days  after 
these  solemnities  of  expiation ;  and  its  two  days  of  holy 
convocation,  namely,  the  fifteenth  and  twenty-third, 
added  to  those  occurring  on  the  first  and  tenth,  made 
four  such  days  during  this  month,  and  filled  up  the  com- 
plement of  seven  for  the  year.  This  was  the  most 
joyous  of  the  annual  celebrations.  It  was  one  of  the 
three  which,  though  established  by  a  law  given  in  the 
wilderness,  had  prospective  reference  to  Canaan,  and  re- 
quired all  male  Hebrews  to  be  present  at  the  tabernacle. 
It  was  called  also  the  festival  of  ingathering,  because 
now  not  only  the  grain,  but  the  produce  of  the  vine  and 
the  olive-tree,  had  been  secured.  It  was  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  continuing  for  seven  days,  and  sometimes 
for  eight  days,  according  as  the  holy  convocation  day 
with  which  the  festivities  ended  was  reckoned  as  a  con- 
stituent part  of  the  festival,  or  as  an  appendix.  For  the 
first  seven  days  the  people  were  to  dwell  in  booths 
formed  of  boughs  of  trees,  still  green  with  the  thick 
foliage  which  had  covered  them  during  summer. 

The  burnt-offerings  of  this  festival  were  far  more 
numerous  than  of  any  other.  On  each  of  the  first  seven 
days  there  were  offered  two  rams  and  fourteen  lambs, 
together  with  bullocks,  the  number  of  which,  beginning 
with  thirteen  on  the  first  day,  was  diminished  by  one 
every  day  to  the  seventh,  when  seven  bullocks  were  a 
part  of  the  occasional  burnt-offering.  Thus  there  were 
presented,  during  the  seven  days  when  the  people  dwelt 
in  booths,  seventy  bullocks,  or  five  times  as  many  as  dur- 


96  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

ing  the  seven  days  of  unleavened  bread  ;  and  the  sacri- 
fices of  lower  grade,  compared  with  those  of  the  paschal 
week,  were  as  two  to  one.  On  the  eighth  day  the  burnt- 
offering  was  diminished  to  one  bullock,  one  ram,  and 
seven  lambs.  The  sin-offering  was  the  same  throughout 
the  eight  days,  namely,  one  goat.  Every  seventh  year 
the  Law  was  publicly  read  to  the  people  during  this  fes- 
tival,^ a  portion  every  day. 

Although  this  was  doubtless  instituted  as  a  festival  of 
thanksgiving  for  the  fruits  of  the  ground  which  had 
been  gathered,  it  was  designed  also  to  remind  the  people 
of  the  life  their  fathers  led  in  the  wilderness.  It  was 
with  this  in  view  that  they  were  required  to  dwell  in 
booths  as  their  fathers  had  lived  in  tents.  It  was  also  in 
reference  to  this,  probably,  that  other  usages  not  enjoined 
by  Moses  obtained  at  least  in  times  later  than  the  taber- 
nacle ;  among  which  were  the  pouring  of  water  drawn 
from  the  Pool  of  Siloam  upon  the  altar  as  a  drink-offer- 
ing in  connection  with  the  daily  burnt-offerings,  and  in 
the  evening  an  illumination  of  the  court  of  the  women, 
where  the  people  assembled,  and  remained  far  into  the 
night,  rejoicing  with  songs  and  dances.  This  drawing 
and  pouring  of  water  took  place  both  morning  and 
evening  every  day  during  the  first  seven  days  of  the 
festival  ;  and  the  evenings  were  devoted,  excepting  those 
which  preceded  the  two  sabbaths,  one  annual  and  one 
weekly,  to  such  exuberant  hilarity  that  it  was  said,  "  He 
that  never  saw  the  rejoicing  at  the  drawing  of  water 
never  saw  rejoicing  in  all  his  life."  ^ 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  our  Lord  had  in  mind 

1  Deut.  xxxi.  10-13. 

2  Lightfoot's  Works.    London,  1684.    Vol.  i.  p.  977. 


THE   CALENDAR   OF   THE    TABERNACLE.  97 

these  scenes  of  mirth  when,  on  the  last  day  of  the  festi- 
val, he  publicly  and  loudly  called  the  attention  of  the 
people  to  himself  as  the  fountain  from  which  might  be 
obtained  water  to  quench  the  thirst  of  the  spirit,  and 
proclaimed  that  he  was  the  light  of  the  world  destined 
to  irradiate  it  as  the  lamps  of  gold  illuminated  the  court 
of  the  temple.  But  as  these  utterances  were  made  on 
"  the  last  great  day  "  of  the  feast,  when  the  pouring  and 
illuminating  had  come  to  an  end,  it  was  the  absence  of 
these  demonstrations  after  they  had  been  exhibited  for 
a  week,  and  not  their  presence  at  the  moment,  which 
gave  peculiar  force  to  these  appeals. 

The  festival  of  tabernacles,  or  of  ingathering,  was 
probably  of  seven  days'  duration ;  and  the  eighth  day 
was  called  atzeretJi}  or  conclusion,  because  it  closed  the 
cycle  of  annual  festivals.  But,  as  the  atzereth  followed 
immediately  after  the  seven  days  in  which  the  people 
lived  in  booths,  it  naturally  was  included  with  them  in 
thought  and  speech ;  and  the  more  easily  because  the 
sabbath,  with  which  the  festival  of  tabernacles  would 
normally  have  closed,  was  by  appointment  celebrated  on 
the  atzereth,  and  not  on  the  seventh  day  of  the  festival. 
This  union  of  the  atzereth  with  the  festival  of  tabernacles 
accounts  for  the  occasional  mention  of  the  latter  as  con- 
tinuing eight  days,  while  the  time  appointed  for  dwelling 

1  From  li'i')  ^^  ^^^^'^  "/>  ^^  close.  In  the  Niphal  it  sometimes  means  to  be 
flW^w2iJ/e«f;  and  our  translators  have  rendered  the  noun  r*yi^'_  a  solemn  assembly. 
But  the  eighth  day  from  the  commencement  of  the  festival  was  already  appointed 
as  "  a  day  of  holy  convocation  "  according  to  the  formula  used  in  all  other  cases 
for  sabbaths,  both  annual  and  weekly  ;  so  that  in  the  passage,  "  On  the  eighth  day 
shall  be  a  holy  convocation  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  offer  an  offering  made  by  fire 
to  Jehovah  ;  it  is  a  solemn  assembly,  and  ye  shall  do  no  servile  work  therein,"  the 
original  would  be  more  accurately  rendered  if  the  words  '■'■the  conclusions^  were 
substituted  for  "  a  solemn  assembly.''^ 
9 


95  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

in  tabernacles  was  one  day  less.  That  the  at::;ercth  did 
not  belong  to  the  festival  as  the  other  seven  days  did,  is 
evident  from  the  sacrifices  appointed  for  it,  which  are  not 
only  greatly  reduced  from  those  of  the  preceding  week, 
but  are  even  less  than  on  the  day  of  a  new-moon,  and 
from  the  desertion  of  the  booths  at  the  end  of  the 
seventh  day. 

We  have  now  surveyed  the  regularly  occurring  rites 
of  the  tabernacle ;  namely,  those  which  were  performed 
daily,  weekly,  monthly,  and  yearly  by  the  consecrated 
attendants  of  the  edifice  as  representatives  of  the  nation. 
These  services  were  acts  of  worship  rendered,  in  the 
name  of  the  whole  community,  to  Jehovah  as  their  God 
dwelling  among  them  in  this  holy  habitation.  They 
were  offered  to  him  by  his  own  appointment,  and  there- 
fore in  mutual  recognition  of  the  covenant  by  which 
he  and  they  were  bound  together. 

But  in  addition  to  the  ritual  which  the  priests  cele- 
brated statedly,  and  in  the  name  of  the  whole  commu- 
nity, other  sacrifices  were  continually  offered  in  behalf 
of  persons  who  brought  them  of  their  own  free  will,  or 
in  accordance  with  some  requirement  of  the  law.  The 
removal  of  ritual  defilement  was  a  frequent  occasion  of 
such  sacrifices.  Sin-offerings  were  also  brought  by  indi- 
viduals when  conscious  of  inadvertent  transgression,  or 
of  failure  to  fulfil  a  rash  vow.  The  trespass-offering  was 
in  all  cases  a  special  and  individual  sacrifice,  presented' 
only  when  a  person  was  accused  in  his  own  conscience 
of  wronging  another  in  matters  of  property.  Burnt- 
offerings,  though  presented  daily  on  the  altar  in  behalf 
of  the  commonwealth,  were  required  of   individuals  in 


THE   CALENDAR  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  99 

various  contingences,  and,  being  at  any  time  permitted 
as  free-will  sacrifices,  were  frequently  added  to  the  morn- 
ing and  evening  oblation.  Peace-offerings,  or  sacrifices 
of  thanksgiving,  were  also  of  frequent  occurrence,  and, 
with  the  exception  of  one  offered  annually  on  the  day  of 
pentecost,  were  always  brought  by  individuals. 

These  private  sacrifices,  of  whatever  kind  they  might 
be,  were  attended  to  by  the  priests  either  in  the  morning 
or  evening  in  connection  with  the  daily  service.  After 
the  arrival  in  Canaan,  and'  the  dispersion  of  the  tribes  to 
occupy  their  several  inheritances,  such  private  sacrifices 
were  greatly  multiplied  during  the  three  festivals  which 
required  the  whole  male  population  to  visit  the  national 
sanctuary  ;  since  these  occasions  were  naturally  improved 
by  persons  residing  at  a  distance  for  the  presentation  of 
whatever  expiatory,  dedicatory,  or  eucharistic  offerings 
might  have  been  prompted  by  their  religious  experience 
since  the  last  visit  to  the  place  of  sacrifice. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    MIGRATIONS    OF    THE    TABERNACLE. 

The  tabernacle,  with  its  attendants  and  services,  had 
now  become  an  estabUshed  institution.  It  appears  as 
if  the  Israehtes  had  been  detained  at  Sinai  chiefly  to 
give  time  for  the  construction  of  this  edifice,  and  the 
appointment  of  its  services  ;  for  not  long  after  its  con- 
secration the  signal  was  given,  by  the  lifting  of  the 
shechinah,  to  break  up  the  encampment.  The  taber- 
nacle was  accordingly  taken  down  by  its  attendants,  and 
prepared  for  transportation. 

First,  the  priests  carefully  covered  the  sacred  articles 
of  furniture ;  and  the  Kohathites,  being  then  admitted, 
carried  them  out  on  their  shoulders  to  bear  them  in  this 
manner  to  the  next  place  of  encampment.  The  Ger- 
shonites,  now  removing  and  folding  the  various  hangings 
and  curtains  of  the  court  and  of  the  edifice,^  piled  them, 
with  their  cords,  studs,  and  other  fixtures,  on  the  two 
wagons  assigned  to  this  use.  The  Merarites  then  loaded 
upon  the  four  other  wagons  belonging  to  the  sacred 
service,  the  planks  and  pillars  of  the  tabernacle,  with 
their  bars  and  silver  sockets  ;  the  pillars  of  the  court, 

1  The  hanging  in  front  of  the  ark  was  an  exception  to  the  rule  that  all  the 
drapery  was  under  the  charge  of  the  sons  of  Gershon,  being  used  by  the  priests 
as  the  first  of  several  coverings  put  over  the  ark  when  it  was  to  be  removed. 

100 


THE  MIGRATIONS  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.        loi 

with  their  sockets  of  copper,  their  cords,  pins,  and  other 
fixtures. 

Meanwhile,  preparations  had  been  going  on  in  all 
parts  of  the  camp ;  so  that,  when  the  Levites  were  ready 
to  take  their  assigned  place,  the  procession  was  already 
formed  in  the  order  in  which  it  was  to  march,  with 
spaces  left  for  them  and  their  charge. 

At  the  head  of  the  procession  might  be  seen  the 
standard  of  the  grand  division,  which,  when  the  caravan 
was  at  rest,  encamped  on  the  east,  or  front  of  the  taber- 
nacle. Under  this  standard  marched  the  tribes  of 
Judah,  Issachar,  and  Zebulon.  Then  followed  the  Ger- 
shonites  and  the  Merarites  with  their  wagons,  occupying 
a  position  near  the  head  of  the  procession,  in  order 
that  they  might  reach  the  place  of  the  next  encamp- 
ment, and  set  up  the  tabernacle,  before  the  arrival  of 
their  brethren  the  Kohathites.  By  this  arrangement  the 
ark,  the  altar  of  incense,  the  chandelier,  and  the  table, 
no  sooner  came  up  than  they  were  carried  within  the 
edifice,  and  deposited  in  the  places  where  they  sever- 
ally belonged.  Next  after  the  wagons,  came  the  second 
grand  division  under  its  standard,  compris'ing  the  tribes 
whose  camp  had  been  on  the  south  of  the  sanctuary ; 
namely,  Reuben,  Simeon,  and  Gad.  In  the  middle  of 
the  column  were  the  Kohathites,  bearing,  by  means  of 
staves  reaching  from  shoulder  to  shoulder,  things  so  holy 
that  they  might  neither  see  nor  touch  them  on  penalty 
of  death.  After  the  Kohathites,  the  other  six  tribes,  in 
two  divisions,  each  with  its  standard,  brought  up  the 
rear  of  the  long  procession. 

Such  was  the  prescribed  order  for  taking  down,  trans- 
porting, and  re-erecting  the  sanctuary.     This  description 


I02  HISTORY  OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

will  serve  not  only  for  the  day  of  departure  from  Sinai, 
but  for  all  subsequent  days  of  travel.  Whenever  the 
shechinah  gave  the  signal  for  removal,  the  tabernacle 
was  thus  carried  from  place  to  place,  and  set  up  anew  for 
the  evening  worship. 

Of  the  first  place  of  encampment  after  leaving  Sinai, 
there  is  no  record ;  and  only  three  stations  are  men- 
tioned by  name  before  the  arrival  at  Kadesh  in  the 
wilderness  of  Paran,  near  the  southern  border  of  the 
promised  land.  Probably  about  two  months  had  been 
spent  on  the  road  from  Sinai  to  this  station,  as  it  was 
"the  time  of  the  first  ripe  grapes"^  when  spies  were 
sent  into  Canaan  to  obtain  information  concerning  the 
country  and  its  inhabitants.  ' 

From  Kadesh  the  tabernacle  would  have  been  carried 
directly  into  the  promised  land,  but  for  the  unbelief  and 
cowardice  of  the  Israelites  ;  who,  when  the  spies  returned 
with  the  report  that  the  land  was  inhabited  by  a  warlike 
people  of  more  than  ordinary  stature  and  strength, 
rebelled  against  their  divine  Leader,  and  refused  to 
undertake  the  conquest  of  the  country.  So  provoking  to 
Jehovah  was  this  distrust  of  him,  that  the  whole  adult 
community  were  sentenced  to  die  in  the  wilderness  ; 
and  the  entrance  into  the  promised  land  was  postponed 
forty  years. 

Of  the  migrations  of  the  tabernacle  for  nearly  thirty- 
eight   of  these   years,  we   have   almost   no   knowledge.. 
Pi^obably  it  remained  stationary  for  long  periods,  while 
the  people  scattered  themselves  in  its  vicinity,  seeking  , 
pasturage  for  their  flocks  and  herds.     When  the  supply 

1  Num.  xiii.  20. 


THE  MIGRATIONS  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.        103 

was  exhausted,  and  better  grazing  could  be  found  else- 
where, they  seem  to  have  removed  to  a  new  station, 
without  reference  to  the  ultimate  goal  of  their  journey. 
At  all  events,  we  find  the  camp,  after  a  long  period, 
again  pitched  in  Kadesh. 

It  was  probably  during  the  first  visit  to  Kadesh,  or 
soon  afterward,  that  the  rebellion  of  Korah  occurred, 
evincing  a  wide  dissatisfaction  with  that  appointment  by 
which  Aaron  and  his  family  were  separated  from  the  rest 
of  the  people  to  the  sacerdotal  office.  The  dissatisfac- 
tion must  have  been  widely  spread ;  for  not  less  than 
"  two  hundred  and  fifty  princes  of  the  assembly,  famous 
in  the  congregation,  men  of  renown,"  ^  appeared  in  open 
mutiny,  demanding  that  they,  and  all  who  desired  it,  might 
be  admitted  to  an  equal  participation  with  Aaron  and  his 
sons  in  performing  the  services  of  the  tabernacle.  It 
seems  to  have  had  its  origin  in  jealousy  of  the  priests 
as  invested  with  the  honor  of  entering  the  habitation  of 
God  while  their  brethren  must  stand  without,  and  to 
have  founded  its  demand  on  the  declaration  of  Jehovah 
that  the  whole  people  should  be  a  kingdom  of  priests 
and  a  holy  nation.  The  feeling  pervaded  not  only  the 
lay  tribes,  but  extended  into  the  tribe  of  Levi ;  for  Korah 
was  a  Levite  of  the  family  of  Kohath,  and  Moses,  in 
his  address  to  the  mutineers,  administers  a  special 
rebuke  to  other  Levites  associated  with  him  in  his  crime, 
but  not  mentioned  by  name. 

The  question  thus  raised  was  submitted  to  the  de- 
cision of  Jehovah.  At  the  instance  of  Moses,  the  two 
hundred  and  fifty  men  who  had  claimed  the  right  to  act 
as  priests  took  censers  in  their  hands,  and  attempted  to 

1  Num.  xvi.  2. 


I04  HISTORY  OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

burn  incense,  but  were  immediately  slain  by  a  judgment 
of  God  while  in  the  very  act  of  sacrilege.  At  the  same 
time  the  earth  opened,  and  swallowed  up  many,  if  not  all, 
who  were  in  sympathy  with  them.  The  two  hundred 
and  fifty  copper  censers  used  by  these  rebels  were  ham- 
mered into  plates,  and  fastened  on  the  great  altar  in  the 
court  of  the  tabernacle,  as  a  memorial  of  this  event,  and 
a  warning  in  all  coming  time  that  no  other  person  than 
such  as  had  been  called  to  the  priesthood  should  attempt 
to  burn  incense  before  Jehovah. 

In  further  manifestation  of  the  will  of  God  that  the 
religious  services  of  the  tabernacle  should  be  performed 
only  by  Aaron  and  his  descendants,  the  tribes  were 
required  to  bring  each  a  rod  with  the  name  of  its  chief 
officer  written  on  it,  to  be  laid  up  in  the  tabernacle  till 
one  of  the  rods  should  blossom,  and  thus  indicate  that 
Jehovah  had  chosen  the  person  whom  it  represented. 
The  day  after  the  rods  thus  inscribed  had  been  deposited, 
Moses  brought  them  out  again  to  the  people  ;  and  "  be- 
hold, the  rod  of  Aaron  for  the  house  of  Levi  was  budded, 
and  brought  forth  buds,  and  bloomed  blossoms,  and 
yielded  almonds."  ^  This  rod,  long  preserved  in  the 
innermost  apartment  of  the  tabernacle,  was  the  seal  of 
Aaron's  call  and  separation  to  the  priesthood. 

After  the  rebellion  of  Korah,  we  have  only  incidental 
mention  of  the  tabernacle  as  it  occurs  here  and  there  in 
the  narrative  of  the  journey  from  Kadesh  to  the  Jordan. 
In  the  passage  of  this  river,  the  ark  of  the  covenant, 
whose  regular  place  was  midway  in  the  line  of  march, 
was  placed   by  Joshua,  the   successor  of   Moses,  at  the 

1  Num.  xvii.  8. 


THE  MIGRATIONS  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.        105 

head  of  the  procession,  with  directions  to  its  bearers  to 
stand  still  when  in  the  middle  of  the  river  till  the  whole 
caravan  had  passed  over.  Accordingly  the  ark  was  car- 
ried into  the  river ;  and,  as  soon  as  the  feet  of  the  priests 
who  bore  it  —  for  on  this  occasion  the  priests  had  taken 
the  place  of  the  Kohathites  as  bearers  —  were  dipped 
in  the  stream,  the  water  which  descended  from  above 
ceased  to  flow  past  the  ark,  piling  itself  as  if  arrested  by 
an  invisible  wall,  and  swelling  the  volume  of  the  river  for 
many  miles  above  to  an  unusual  width  and  height.  At 
the  same  time  the  water  flowed  off  from  that  portion  of 
the  river  which  was  below  the  ark  into  the  Dead  Sea. 
The  whole  host  of  the  Israelites  then  hastily  passed  over ; 
forty  thousand  armed  men  from  the  tribes  which  had 
chosen  to  have  their  inheritance  assigned  them  on  tl^e 
east  side  of  the  Jordan  marching  in  the  van.  Twelve  men 
appointed  for  the  purpose,  each  the  representative  of  a 
tribe,  followed  the  main  column,  bearing  twelve  stones, 
which  were  set  up  in  Gilgal,  the  place  of  the  evening 
encampment,  as  a  memorial  to  future  generations  of  this 
miraculous  passage  of  the  Jordan.  When  all  had  reached 
the  western  bank,  the  priests,  at  the  command  of  Joshua, 
brought  out  the  ark ;  and,  as  soon  as  their  feet  touched 
the  shore,  the  water  which  had  been  driven  back  up  the 
stream  began  to  flow  downward  again  as  in  the  morning, 
and  soon  covered  its  ancient  bed. 

The  passage  of  the  Jordan  occurred  on  the  tenth  day 
of  the  first  month,  four  days  previous  to  the  anniversary 
of  the  exodus  from  Egypt ;  and,  as  the  Hebrews  had 
now  arrived  within  the  promised  land,  the  formal  ob- 
servance of  that  anniversary  was  by  law  obligatory. 
Accordingly  the  passover  was  kept  at  Gilgal ;  the  rite  of 


io6  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

circumcision,  which  for  many  years  had  been  neglected, 
being  first  performed  upon  all  the  uncircumcised  young 
men  and  boys  in  the  camp. 

The  tabernacle  remained  for  several  years  in  this  its 
first  station  after  the  passage  of  the  Jordan,  while  Joshua 
with  his  fellow-soldiers  was  engaged  in  the  conquest 
of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  the  country.  From 
time  to  time  military  expeditions  went  out  from,  and 
returned  to,  Gilgal ;  but  the  tabernacle  remained  station- 
ary in  the  midst  of  a  large  population  including  the 
priests  and  Levites,  the  women  and  children,  the  sick 
and  the  aged,  with  a  sufficient  garrison  of  soldiers. 

When  the  enemy  had  been  driven  from  the  field,  and 
held  only  some  fortified  cities,  the  headquarters  of  the 
Hebrews  were  removed  from  Gilgal  to  Shiloh,  more  cen- 
trally situated  in  their  newly  acquired  territory.  Here 
the  tabernacle  was  set  up  ;  and  here  it  remained,  with  its 
attendant  priests  and  Levites,  after  the  country  had  been 
divided  by  lot,  and  the  tribes  had  departed  to  take  pos- 
session of  their  respective  portions.  We  find  it  still 
here  three  centuries  later :  for  it  was  in  Shiloh  that 
Hophni  and  Phinehas,  the  profligate  sons  of  Eli,  pro- 
faned the  sanctuary  with  their  rapacity  and  lewdness  ; 
and  it  was  from  Shiloh  that  the  ark  of  the  covenant  was 
carried  into  battle  when  it  was  captured  by  the  Philis- 
tines, and  its  sacrilegious  attendants,  Hophni  and 
Phinehas,  were  slain. 

The  captured  ark  was  conveyed  by  the  Philistines 
from  the  field  of  their  victory  to  Ashdod,  thence  to  Gath, 
and  thence  to  Ekron ;  but  in  all  these  cities  it  was 
found  to  be  an  occasion  of  calamity  to  the  captors,  so 
that  after  seven  months  they  were  more  than  willing  to 
restore  it  to  the  Hebrews. 


THE  MIGRATIONS   OF  THE    TABERNACLE.       107 

The  inhabitants  of  Beth-shemesh,  near  the  border  of 
PhiHstia,  were  engaged  in  harvesting  wheat  when  the 
cart  approached  them  on  which  the  PhiHstines  had 
placed  the  ark  ;  and  "  they  lifted  up  their  eyes,  and  saw 
the  ark,  and  rejoiced  to  see  it."  ^  Their  joy,  however, 
was  not  tempered  with  due  reverence ;  for  they  dared  to 
open  and  look  into  the  ark,  and  were  smitten  with  death, 
in  consequence,  to  the  number  of  seventy  men.^  Tlie 
survivors,  overcome  with  fear,  were  now  as  desirous  that 
the  ark  should  leave  Beth-shemesh  as  they  had  been  glad 
to  receive  it,  and  sent  messengers  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Kirjath-jearim  to  come  and  carry  it  home  to  their  vil- 
lage, a  few  miles  farther  from  the  Philistine  border. 
Why  it  was  not  conveyed  at  once  to  Shiloh,  and  deposited 
in  the  holy  of  holies,  we  cannot  learn.  Perhaps  the  tab- 
ernacle had  already  been  removed  from  Shiloh  to  Nob, 
as  a  place  of  greater  security ;  but  even  then  the  ques- 
tion remains,  Why  was  not  the  ark  restored  to  its  ancient 
seat  within  the  sanctuary  .-* 

Strange  as  it  appears  to  us,  the  ark  was  carried  to 
Kirjath-jearim,  and  remained  there  apart  from  the  taber- 
nacle for  half  a  century.  Its  captivity  had  perhaps  dimin- 
ished the  pride  and  confidence  with  which  the  people 
had  regarded  it,  for  it  was  much  neglected  during  the 
days  of  Samuel  and  Saul.  For  the  first  twenty  years 
especially,  there  seems  to  have  been  a  great  decline  in 
religion  as  well  as  in  military  power  and  material  pros- 
perity.    Victory  was  on  the  side  of  the  Philistines,  who 

1  I  Sam.  vi.  13. 

2  The  most  conservative  critics  allow  that  there  is  some  error  in  the  Hebrew 
text  in  respect  to  the  number  of  persons  who  were  smitten  with  death  at  Beth- 
shemesh  for  profaning  the  ark.  The  error  is  older  than  the  Septuagint  version, 
which  agrees  with  the  Hebrew. 


io8  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

devastated  some  parts  of  the  country,  and  held  other 
parts  with  mihtary  occupation.  The  Hebrews,  instead 
of  resorting  with  repentance  to  Jehovah,  sought  help 
from  the  vanities  of  the  heathen.  In  this  state  of  things, 
an  effort  was  made  by  Samuel,  when  the  ark  had  been 
about  twenty  years  in  the  house  of  Abinadab  at  Kirjath- 
jearim,  to  recall  the  people  from  the  idolatry  into  which 
they  had  fallen  to  the  exclusive  worship  of  Jehovah. 
The  effort  was  partially  successful,  but  not  to  the  extent 
of  reinstating  the  ark  in  the  high  place  it  had  formerly 
held  in  popular  esteem. 

When  King  David  had  captured  Jerusalem  from  the 
Jebusites,  and  chosen  it  as  the  seat  of  his  government, 
he  desired  to  make  it  also  the  resting-place  of  the  ark. 
Accordingly,  having  first  consulted  with  his  captains  of 
thousands  and  hundreds,  he  said  to  all  the  congregation 
of  Israel,  "  Let  us  bring  again  the  ark  of  our  God  to  us  ; 
for  we  inquired  not  at  it  in  the  days  of  Saul."  ^  Gladly 
the  people  responded  to  the  proposal  of  the  king,  and 
assembled  in  great  numbers  "  to  bring  the  ark  of  God 
from  Kirjath-jearim."  ^  With  singing  and  with  harps, 
with  psalteries  and  with  timbrels,  with  cymbals  and 
with  trumpets,  the  procession  moved  toward  the  new 
seat  of  government  and  religion,  when  suddenly  the  joy 
was  turned  to  mourning  by  the  instant  death  of  Uzza,  a 
young  man  belonging  to  the  family  in  whose  house  the 
ark  had  so  long  had  its  abode.  They  were  conveying 
the  ark  on  a  cart  drawn  by  oxen,  instead  of  transporting 
it  on  the  shoulders  of  Levites  by  means  of  staves  ;  and 
when  the  oxen  stumbled,  and  Uzza,  in  violation  of  the 
law,  touched  the  sacred  oracle  to  save  it  from  a  fall,  he 

1  I  C'hion.  xiii.  3.  2  i  Chron.  xiii.  5. 


THE  MIGRATIONS  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.       109 

suffered  death  as  the  punishment  of  his  presumption. 
This  sad  event  put  an  end  not  only  to  the  music  and 
rejoicing  which  accompanied  the  procession,  but  to  the 
journey  itself ;  and  the  ark  was  left  in  the  house  of 
Obed-edom,  near  the  place  where  Uzza  died. 

Three  months  later  King  David,  who  had  meanwhile 
more  than  once  consulted  the  oracle,  came  to  convey  it, 
in  the  legitimate  and  proper  method  of  its  transportation, 
to  Jerusalem,  where  he  had  prepared  for  it  a  tent. 
Again  the  procession  moved  toward  Zion,  accompanied 
with  vocal  and  instrumental  music  ;  the  ark  being  this 
time  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  Levites  clothed,  as  were 
also  the  musicians,  in  garments  of  white.  The  king, 
wearing  a  white  linen  ephod,  led  the  procession  ;  and, 
much  to  the  scandal  of  Michal  his  wife,  indulged  in  the 
liveliest  expressions  of  joy  as  the  venerable  relic  which 
connected  Zion  with  Sinai,  and  himself  with  Moses, 
passed  through  the  streets  of  the  city  to  the  place  pre- 
pared for  its  rest. 

Several  psalms  prepared  by  him  for  the  occasion  have 
been  preserved  to  us.  Besides  those  mentioned  in  the 
Book  of  Chronicles,  there  is  internal  evidence  that  the 
following  was  composed  for  this  occasion  :  ^  — 

"  Jehovah,  remember  David 

And  all  his  afflictions  : 
How  he  sware  unto  Jehovah, 

And  vowed  unto  the  mighty  One  of  Jacob,  — 
Surely  I  will  not  come  into  the  tabernacle  of  my  house, 

Nor  go  up  into  my  bed, 
I  will  not  give  sleep  to  my  eyes, 

Or  slumber  to  my  eyelids, 
Until  I  find  out  a  place  for  Jehovah, 

1  Ps.  cxxxii. 


no  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

A  habitation  for  the  mighty  One  of  Jacob. 
Lo,  we  heard  of  it  at  Ephratah  ; 

We  found  it  in  the  fields  of  the  wood. 
We  will  go  into  his  tabernacles  ; 

We  will  worship  at  his  footstool. 
Arise,  Jehovah,  into  thy  rest. 

Thou,  and  the  ark  of  thy  strength. 
Let  thy  priests  be  clothed  with  righteousness. 

And  let  thy  saints  shout  for  joy. 
On  account  of  David  thy  servant  {grant  these  requests/) 

Turn  not  away  the  face  of  thy  Anointed. 
For  Jehovah  hath  sworn  in  truth  unto  David,  — 

He  will  not  turn  from  it,  — 
'  Of  the  fruit  of  thy  body  will  I  set  upon  thy  throne  : 

If  thy  sons  keep  my  covenant. 
And  my  testimony  which  I  shall  teach  them, 

Their  sons  also  forever 
Shall  sit  upon  thy  throne.' 

For  Jehovah  hath  chosen  Zion  ; 
He  hath  desired  it  for  his  habitation. 

This  is  my  rest  forever  ; 
Here  will  I  dwell,  for  I  have  desired  it. 

I  will  abundantly  bless  her  provision  ; 
I  will  satisfy  her  poor  with  bread  ; 

I  will  also  clothe  her  priests  with  salvation  ; 
And  her  saints  shall  shout  aloud  for  joy. 

There  will  I  make  the  horn  of  David  to  grow ; 
I  have  ordained  light  for  my  Anointed. 

His  enemies  will  I  clothe  with  shame  ; 
But,  as  for  him,  his  crown  shall  flourish." 

The  ark  was  thus  established  in  Jerusalem,  its  final 
resting-place  ;  but  the  tabernacle  remained  in  Gibeon, 
whither  it  had  been  conveyed  from  Nob  before  this 
removal  of  the  ark.  It  is  not  easy  to  believe  that  David 
would  have  allowed  this  separation  to  continue  without 
some  intimation  that  such  was  the  will  of  God.     Inex- 


THE  MIGRATIONS  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.       iii 

plicable  before,  this  continued  separation  of  the  ark  from 
the  tabernacle  and  its  services,  becomes  still  more  mys- 
terious now  when  the  Philistines  have  been  driven  from 
the  land,  the  tribes  have  been  united  under  a  popular 
and  powerful  monarch,  and  the  ark  has  been  established 
in  the  city  of  this  great  king,  with  a  retinue  of  attendants 
and  a  daily  service  of  worship ;  for  it  must  not  be  forgot- 
ten, that  from  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  ark  in  Jeru- 
salem there  was,  as  has  been  mentioned  in  a  previous 
chapter,  a  daily  service  of  praise  before  it,  accompanied 
sometimes  with  free-will  burnt-offerings  and  peace- 
offerings. 

At  the  same  time  the  daily,  weekly,  monthly,  annual, 
and  special  services  of  the  tabernacle,  as  appointed  by 
Moses,  were  held  at  Gibeon,  where  "  Zadok  the  priest, 
and  his  brethren  the  priests,"  ^  resided  in  order  to  oflfi- 
ciate.  Here  the  people  assembled  thrice  every  year  to 
celebrate  the  passover,  the  day  of  pentecost,  and  the 
completion  of  harvest.  Here  Solomon  came  to  sacrifice 
at  the  beginning  of  his  reign  ;  for  it  was  at  Gibeon  ^ 
(where  was  the  tabernacle  "  which  Moses  the  servant  of 
Jehovah  had  made  in  the  wilderness,"  and  the  brazen 
altar  that  Bezaleel  had  made),  that,  being  invited  to  ask 
of  God  whatever  he  most  desired  to  receive,  he  made 
choice  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,  rather  than  of  riches, 
wealth,  and  honor. 

Gibeon  continued  to  be  the  seat  of  the  national  sacri- 
fices till  the  completion  of  Solomon's  temple,  when 
"  they  brought  up  the  ark,  and  the  tabernacle  of  the  con- 
gregation, and  all  the  holy  vessels  that  were  in  the  taber- 
nacle," ^  with  great  ceremony,  and  deposited  them  within 

1  I  Chron.  xvi.  39.  2  2  Chxon.  i.  3.  3  2  Chron.  v.  5. 


112  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

the  walls  of  that  edifice.  The  language  of  the  inspired 
narrative  does  not  perhaps  forbid  the  supposition  that 
the  tent  which  David  had  pitched  in  Jerusalem  is  here 
intended  rather  than  the  sanctuary  at  Gibeon ;  but  the 
Jewish  tradition  is,  that  the  tabernacle  erected  by  Moses 
was  thus  laid  away  in  the  temple  as  a  sacred  relic  of  the 
past.  Josephus  says  expressly,  "  So  they  carried  the 
ark,  and  the  tabernacle  which  Moses  had  pitched,  and  all 
the  vessels  that  were  for  ministration  to  the  sacrifices  of 
God,  and  removed  them  to  the  temple."  ^ 

We  hear  nothing  of  this  edifice  afterward,  or  of  the 
parts  into  which  it  was  now  resolved,  but  may  conjecture 
that  its  pillars,  its  bars,  and  its  sockets,  were  stored  in 
some  of  the  chambers  of  the  temple  till  they  were  con- 
sumed or  lost  at  the  destruction  of  the  city  by  Nebu- 
chadnezzar. 

1  Antiq.  book  viii.  ch.  4. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  EXPENSES  OF  THE  TABERNACLE, 

We  have  acquainted  ourselves  with  the  tabernacle 
sufficiently  to  know  that  it  must  have  been  costly  in  its 
original  construction,  and  also  in  its  subsequent  mainte- 
nance. The  edifice,  though  small,  was  expensive  both  in 
its  materials,  and  by  the  expenditure  of  much  labor  and 
eminent  skill  in  its  fabrication.  Its  services  required 
not  only  a  daily  supply  of  animals  for  sacrifice,  but  of 
flour,  wine,  oil,  and  perfumes,  all  of  the  finest  quality. 
Its  numerous  attendants,  as  they  were  separated  to  its 
exclusive  service,  must  receive  for  themselves  and  their 
families  a  sufficient  sustenance. 

These  expenses  must,  of  course,  be  levied  in  some 
way  on  the  whole  people  among  whom  Jehovah  dwelt  in 
this  his  holy  habitation.  By  what  system,  then,  was  a 
revenue  collected  sufficient  for  the  expenses  of  the 
sanctuary  ? 

Its  construction  was  provided  lor,  as  we  have  already 
had  occasion  to  observe,  by  voluntary  donations  ;  and 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  was  such,  that  the  invita- 
tion to  contribute  was  shortly  followed  by  a  public 
notification  that  the  gifts  already  brought  in  fully 
equalled  the  requirements.  It  is,  however,  noteworthy, 
thnt,  of  the  materials  used  in  the  construction,  one  item 


) 


114  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

is  an  exception  to  the  rule  that  they  were  provided  by 
voluntary  donation.  The  silver  was  the  product  of  a 
poll-tax  of  half  a  shekel  laid  on  all  male  Israelites  from 
twenty  years  old  upward,  and  amounted  to  (lOo)  one 
hundred  talents,  and  (1,775)  ^^^  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  seventy-five  shekels.  Of  the  silver  thus  obtained, 
one  hundred  bases  of  solid  metal  were  made  for  the 
planks  and  pillars  of  the  edifice,  each  weighing  one 
talent ;  and  the  remaining  fraction  of  a  talent  was  used 
for  plating  the  capitals  of  the  pillars  around  the  court, 
for  the  rods  extending  from  pillar  to  pillar,  and  for  the 
hooks  by  which  the  curtains  were  suspended.^ 

The  current  expenses  of  the  tabernacle  were  defrayed 
by  taxes  of  different  kinds ;  the  laws  by  which  these 
taxes  were  imposed  being  framed  with  reference  to  the 
settlement  of  the  people  in  the  promised  land,  and  their 
operation  being  modified  by  their  nomadic  life  while  in 
the  wilderness.^ 

1  Bush,  in  Notes  on  Exodus,  ch.  xxxviii.  24,  gives  the  following  estimate  of  the 
cost  of  the  tabernacle  :  "  The  gold  weighed  29  talents  and  730  shekels,  if  we  allow 
3,000  shekels  to  the  talent  of  125  lbs.  ;  and  this  at  £4  the  ounce  would  be  equal  to. 
^£175, 000,  or  nearly  $875,000.  The  silver  was  100  talents  and  1,775  shekels,  being 
a  half-shekel  from  all  the  males  above  t^venty  years  of  age  when  they  came  out 
of  Egypt,  whose  number  was  603,550  ;  the  whole  value  of  this  would,  at  55-.  the 
ounce,  be  .£39,721,  or  nearly  $198,605.  The  brass,  or  rather  copper,  was  70  talents 
and  2,400  shekels  ;  which,  if  valued  at  \s.  2d.  the  pound  avoirdupois,  would  be  worth 
^138,  or  $690.  The  amount  of  these  several  sums  would  not  be  less  than  £213,320, 
or  $1,066,600.  But  this  amount  does  not  include  the  curtains  of  the  enclosure,  the 
coverings  of  the  tabernacle,  the  dress  of  the  high-priest  and  its  jewels,  the  dresses 
of  the  common  priests,  or  the  value  of  the  skill  and  labor  employed  in  the  work  ; 
the  whole  of  which  may  be  fairly  taken  to  have  raised  its  value  to  the  immense 
sum  of  £250,000,  or  $1,250,000." 

2  There  are  inherent  evidences  in  the  laws  enacted  at  Sinai  that  they 
were  there  enacted  and  committed  to  writing.  One  such  is  the  assumption 
that  the  Hebrews  were  shortly  to  be  in  possession  of  Canaan.     The  laws  are 


THE  EXPENSES  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  115 

First  of  all  was  the  annual  poll-tax  of  a  half-shekel, 
which,  for  the  year  of  sojourn  at  Sinai,  was  put  to  the 
account  of  construction,  but  afterward  was  used  to  pay 
for  animals  sacrificed,  for  the  show-bread,  for  wood 
for  the  altar,  and  for  any  other  items  properly  chargeable 
to  the  common  treasury.  It  was  expressly  enacted,  that, 
in  the  collection  of  this  tax,  no  distinction  should  be  made 
between  rich  and  poor.^  Every  male  of  twenty  years 
old  upward  must  pay  his  half-shekel  as  a  tax,  not  on  his 
inheritance  or  his  income,  but  on  himself.  If  he  was 
poor,  this  was  the  seal  that  in  the  sight  of  Jehovah  he 
was  equal  to  the  richest  of  his  brethren  ;  if  he  was  rich, 
this  was  to  remind  him  that  the  poorest  of  his  neighbors 
had  an  equal  right  with  himself  in  the  daily  sacrifice,  and 
in  all  the  privileges  of  the  sanctuary. 

It  might  seem,  at  first  thought,  as  if  so  small  a  tax  as 
a  half-shekel  would  not  yield  a  sufficient  amount  for  the 

framed  as  if  the  600,000  armed  men  now  encamped  before  the  "  terrible  mount" 
were  to  march  directly  and  immediately  into  the  land  promised  to  Abraham  their 
father.  Such  was  the  expectation  of  Moses  at  that  time  ;  and  such  would  have 
been  the  reality  but  for  the  unbelief  and  cowardice  of  the  people.  Such  an 
assumption  is  fatal  to  the  hypothesis  that  these  laws  were  not  written  till  many 
centuries  after  the  death  of  Moses,  and  ought  to  be  received  as  evidence  that  they 
were  written  out  at  Sinai,  as  a  water-mark  in  paper  establishes  the  place  and  date 
of  its  manufactiu-e.  Yet  Ewald  saw  this  '■'■■water-mark,''''  and  judges  that  it  was 
put  in  designedly  by  a  writer  in  the  time  of  Solomon,  but  not  with  intention  to 
deceive.  "The  author  never  makes  any  pretence  of  being  taken  for  Moses  himself : 
indeed,  we  should  do  great  wrong  to  the  simple  narrator,  were  we  to  suppose  this  ; 
for  he  even  describes  equally  innocently,  and  on  the  same  plan,  the  rise  of  legal 
institutions  under  Joshua,  and  closes  his  work  with  the  erection  of  the  Temple  of 
Solomon  ;  and  where  a  precept  is  inserted  for  the  connection's  sake,  which  is  to  be 
applied  only  in  the  Holy  Land,  not  in  the  wilderness,  the  author  sometimes  makes 
Moses  himself  announce  it,  only  by  way  of  prophecy,  with  the  addition,  '  when 
ye  come  into  the  Holy  Land.'  "  (Geschichte  des  Volkes  Israel.  English  trans- 
lation, London,  1869,  vol.  i.  p.  90.)  The  highest  degree  in  scholarship  cannot 
justify  confidence  in  the  conclusions  of  a  man  capable  of  such  absurdity. 
1  Exod.  XXX.  15. 


Il6  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

purposes  speciiied;  but  a  second  thought  will  correct 
such  an  impression.  There  were  at  Sinai  more  than 
(600,000)  six  hundred  thousand  persons  who  paid  this 
tax ;  so  that,  reckoning  the  half-shekel  at  three  dimes, 
the  tax  yielded  more  than  {$  1 80,000)  one  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  dollars.  The  amount  in  subsequent 
years  was,  probably,  never  much  less,  and  after  the  settle- 
ment in  Canaan  must  have  been  much  larger  than  at 
the  exodus.i  Such  a  sum  must  have  been  amply  suffi- 
cient, when  we  remember  that  no  part  of  it  went  for  the 
support  of  the  priests  and  Levites ;  who  were  provided 
for  by  other  taxes,  of  which  we  have  yet  to  speak. 

Lightfoot  gives  an  account  of  the  collection  and  stor- 
age of  this  half-shekel  tax,  in  the  time  of  the  temple,  of 
which  the  following  is  an  abstract :  — 

"There  were  thirteen  treasure-chests  at  the  temple, 
commonly  called  sJiopherotJi  from  their  trumpet-like  shape. 
Two  of  these  chests  were  for  the  half-shekel  that  every 
Israelite  was  to  pay ;  the  one  chest  for  the  payment  of 
the  last  year  if  he  had  missed  to  pay  at  the  due  time, 
and  the  other  for  the  half-shekel  for  the  year  present. 
On  the  first  day  of  Adar,  which  answers  in  part  to  our 
February,  general  notice  was  given  throughout  the 
country  that  they  should  provide  to  pay  their  half -shekel ; 
and  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  that  month  the  collectors  sat 
in  every  city  to  gather  it,  and  they  had  two  chests  before 
them,  as  were  at  the  temple  ;  and  they  demanded  payment 
calmly,  and  used  no  roughness  or  compulsion. 

1  The  number  of  men  able  to  bear  arms,  as  enrolled  in  the  census  at  Sinai,  was 
603,550  ;  and  a  similar  enrolment  on  the  plains  of  Moab  nearly  fort}'  years  aftei- 
wjurd  enumerated  601,730.  Some  of  the  tribes  had  largely  increased,  and  others 
had  suffered  loss ;  but  the  aggregate  was  not  much  changed. 


THE  EXPENSES  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  117 

"  On  the  five  and  twentieth  day  of  the  month,  the  col- 
lectors began  to  sit  in  the  temple,  and  then  they  forced 
men  to  pay ;  and,  if  any  one  had  not  wherewith  to  pay, 
they  took  his  pawn,  and  sometimes  would  take  his  very 
raiment  perforce.  They  had  a  table  before  them  to 
count  and  change  the  money  upon,  and  two  chests  be- 
fore them  to  put  into.  When  a  man  brought  a  shekel  to 
change,  and  must  have  half  a  shekel  again,  the  collector 
was  to  have  some  profit  upon  the  change ;  and  that  addi- 
tion, or  profit,  was  called  kolbon.  Nay,  if  two  came 
together,  and  paid  a  shekel  for  them  both,  so  that  there 
needed  no  change,  yet  the  receiver  was  to  have  some 
profit  from  them  both.  It  was  this  exaction  within  the 
courts  of  the  temple  which  caused  our  Saviour  to  over- 
throw the  tables  of  these  kolbonistsr  ^ 

Passing  from  the  consideration  of  the  treasure-chests 
to  that  of  treasure-chambers,  he  continues,  "  There  was 
the  chamber,  or  treasury,  of  the  half-shekel  poll-money, 
into  which  the  two  chests  that  have  been  spoken  of 
were  emptied  when  they  were  full,  and  the  chamber 
locked  and  sealed  up.  Now,  at  three  set  times  of  the 
year  they  took  the  money  out  of  this  chamber  again. 
The  Talmud,  and  Maimonides  in  the  treatise  Shekalim, 
do  give  the  story,  and  the  manner  of  that  action,  thus  : 
at  three  times  of  the  year  they  emptied  this  chamber  ; 
namely,  fifteen  days  before  the  passover,  fifteen  days 
before  pentecost,  and  fifteen  days  before  the  festival  of 
tabernacles. 

"  He  that  went  in  to  fetch  out  the  money  must  not  go 
in  in  any  garment  in  which  it  was  possible  to  hide 
money,  nor  in  his  shoes  or  sandals,  no,  nor  with  his  phy- 

1  Lightfoot,  vol.  i.  p.  1095. 


Ii8  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

lacteries  on ;  because  it  was  possible  to  hide  money 
under  them.  When  he  went  in,  a  watch  stood  at  the 
door  without ;  and  all  the  time  he  was  within  they  talked 
to  him,  and  he  again  to  them,  so  that  he  might  be  pre- 
vented from  putting  any  money  into  his  mouth.  The 
money  that  was  in  the  chamber  was  put  up,  when  it  was 
first  brought  in,  into  three  great  chests  containing  nine 
seahs,  or  three  bushels,  apiece ;  and,  if  there  were  more 
brought  in  than  would  go  into  these  three  chests,  it  was 
laid  by  somewhere  in  the  chamber.  He  that  went  in 
took  three  chests  of  three  seaJis  apiece,  or  every  one 
containing  a  bushel,  and  he  filled  them  out  of  the  great 
chests  within.  Thus  having  filled  these  three  at  one 
time,  they  were  brought  out,  and  the  money  bestowed  to 
buy  the  daily  sacrifices  and  other  things  necessary  for 
the  service  ;  and  thus  they  laid  out  the  money  as  long 
as  those  three  bushels  would  run ;  and  at  the  next 
appointed  time  he  went  into  the  chamber  again,  and  did 
the  like."  ^ 

These  Jewish  accounts  of  the  collection  and  storage 
of  the  half-shekel  tax,  if  not  directly  applicable  to  the 
time  of  the  tabernacle,  will  at  least  serve  to  show  that 
the  tax  was  levied  annually,  and  not,  as  one  might  per- 
haps infer  from  the  letter  of  the  law,  ^  at  intervals  of 
many  years. 

Such  being  the  provision  of  treasure  for  the  purchase  of 
whatever  was  necessary  for  the  service  of  the  sanctuary, 
we  pass  on  to  consider  other  taxes  levied  for  the  support " 
of  the  priests  and  Levites. 

To  the  priests,  then,  belonged  the  first-born  of  animals 
and  of  men,  the  first-fruits  of  all  produce  of  the  earth, 

1  Lightfoot,  vol.  i.  p.  1097.  -  Exod.  xxx.  12-16. 


THE  EXPENSES  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  119 

one-tenth  of  the  tithes  or  one  per  cent  of  all  the  cattle 
and  produce  remaining  after  the  firstlings  and  first-fruits 
had  been  rendered,  certain  prescribed  parts  of  the  sacri- 
fices, and  some  perquisites  irregular  in  their  occurrence 
and  quite  diverse  in  amount.  To  the  Levites  belonged 
the  tithes,  subject  to  the  deduction  of  one-tenth  for  the 
priests. 

We  will  review  the  sources  of  income  to  the  priest- 
hood enumerated  above,  offering  such  remarks  as  may 
be  necessary  in  explanation  of  each. 

To  the  priests,  then,  belonged  all  the  first-born  both  of 
man  and  beast.  The  law  was,  indeed,  differently  inter- 
preted in  the  two  cases  ;  with  sole  reference  to  the  dam 
in  the  case  of  domestic  animals,  but  with  reference  to 
marriage  and  the  family  when  applied  to  the  offspring 
of  a  woman.  By  the  first-born  in  a  family,  this  law 
intended  the  first  issue  of  a  woman  by  her  first  husband, 
the  child  being  a  male,  and  the  first-born  of  its  father. 
Every  such  first-born  son  was  holy  to  Jehovah,  and  must 
be  redeemed  with  five  shekels,  to  be  paid  into  the  com- 
mon treasury  of  the  priests.^     Every  firstling  animal  also 

1  Ignorance  of  the  interpretation  put  upon  this  law  occasioned  one  of  the 
difficulties  experienced  by  Colenso.  He  could  not  understand  how  there  could  be 
so  few  first-born  males  at  the  time  of  theexodus  as  (22,273)  twenty-two  thousand, 
two  hundred  and  seventy-three  ;  assuming  evidently  that  this  enumeration  included 
every  male  who  was  the  first-born  of  a  woman.  But  the  difficulty  disappears  when 
we  have  reduced  the  number  of  families  which  would  be  taxable  for  the  birth  of  a 
firstling  by  excluding  those  in  which  the  first-born  was  a  female,  those  in  which 
the  wife  had  borne  children  by  a  former  husband,  and  those  in  which  the  husband 
was  already  a  father.  For  example  :  if  in  the  family  of  King  David  the  first-bom 
child  had  been  a  female,  he  would  have  been  exempt  from  this  tax  ;  and,  if  his  first 
child  had  been  a  son  by  Abigail,  he  would  have  been  exempt  if  she  had  borne  a 
child,  either  male  or  female,  to  her  former  husband.  Having  paid  five  shekels  for 
the  redemption  of  Amnon,  his  first-born  by  Ahinoam,  he  was  ever  after  exempt, 
though  he  had  many  a  wife  whose  first  child  was  a  son.  See  Lund,  Die  alten 
Judischen  Heiligthiimer.    Hamburg,  1738.     P.  703. 


I20  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

belonged  to  Jehovah,  and  was  by  him  given  to  the  priests  ; 
so  that  every  such  birth  must  be  accounted  for,  either 
by  the  dehvery  of  the  animal  itself,  or  by  an  equivalent. 
If  suitable  for  food,  it  could  not  be  represented  by  a  sub- 
stitute ;  but  its  blood  must  be  sprinkled  on  the  altar,  and 
its  fat  offered  to  Jehovah  in  the  fire.  After  these  rites 
of  sacrifice  had  been  performed,  the  flesh  belonged  to 
the  priests.  If  unclean,  the  animal  must  be  redeemed  ; 
as,  for  example,  a  lamb  was  the  appointed  substitute  for 
the  firstling  of  an  ass. 

To  the  priests  belonged  the  first-fruits  of  all  produce 
of  the  earth.  The  law  did  not,  indeed,  prescribe  how 
large  a  portion  should  be  thus  consecrated :  but  custom 
fixed  one-sixtieth  as  the  minimum  of  this  tax  ;  while  the 
liberal  gave  more,  and  the  very  liberal  one-fortieth,  or 
even  one- thirtieth.  The  householder  might  not  eat  of  any 
kind  of  the  produce  of  his  fields  till  he  had  separated 
a  portion  of  it  as  an  offering  of  first-fruits  ;  and,  when 
he  had  so  divided,  must  not  appropriate  to  his  own  use 
the  least  part  of  what  he  had  consecrated.  The  law  of 
first-fruits  applied  not  only  to  all  grains  and  fruits,  but  to 
wine,  oil,  honey,  and  wool.^ 

To  the  priests  belonged,  in  addition  to  the  firstlings 


1  It  is  important  to  keep  in  mind  the  difference  between  the  national  presenta- 
tion of  first-fruits  as  a  religious  ceremony  performed  at  the  three  festivals  of  pass- 
over,  pentecost,  and  tabernacles,  and  this  oblation  by  individuals  for  the  support  of 
the  priests.  Lund  thinks  that  there  were  two  presentations  of  first-fruits  by  indi- 
viduals :  one  of  specimens  earliest  ripe,  but  only  in  small  quantity,  and  chiefly  as 
a  rite  of  religious  acknowledgment  and  thanksgiving,  though  after  being  pre- 
sented as  a  thank-offering  they  belonged  to  the  priests  ;  the  other  such  as  is 
described  above.  He  distinguishes  them  by  the  names  Biccurim  and  Trumah. 
If  the  distinction  is  well  founded,  which  some  deny,  it  is  not  necessary  to  remem- 
ber it  in  treating  of  the  income  of  the  priests,  since  in  either  case  every  thing 
consecrated  as  first-fruits  belonged  to  them. 


THE  EXPENSES  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  12 1 

and  first-fruits,  one  per  cent  of  the  increase  of  all  cattle 
and  of  all  produce  of  the  earth,  remaining  after  the  first- 
lings and  first-fruits  had  been  deducted.  This  item  of 
their  income  came  to  them  through  the  Levites  ;  who 
received  tithes  from  the  other  tribes,  but  were  obliged 
to  pay  to  the  priests  one-tenth  of  what  they  received. 

To  the  priests  belonged  the  skin  of  every  animal 
whose  flesh  was  laid  on  the  altar,  the  skin  being  con- 
sumed with  the  flesh  only  in  the  few  cases  where  the 
victim  was  burned  outside  of  the  camp.  More  or  less  of 
the  flesh  of  all  sacrificial  animals  except  burnt-offerings 
was  also  assigned  by  the  law  to  the  priests.  Of  a  sin- 
offering  they  had  all  that  was  eatable  except  when  the 
sacrifice  was  for  the  sin  of  a  priest,  or  of  the  whole  con- 
gregation ;  in  which  case  the  victim  was  carried  outside 
of  the  camp,  and  burned.  The  flesh  of  a  trespass-offer- 
ing was  also  their  property,  to  be  eaten,  like  the  sin- 
offering,  by  them  only.  Of  peace-offerings  the  breast 
belonged  to  the  priests  in  common,  while  the  right  hind- 
leg  was  the  perquisite  of  the  individual  who  officiated  at 
the  sacrifice  ;  and  these  parts  of  a  peace-offering  might 
be  carried  out  of  the  sanctuary,  and  sold,  or  eaten  at 
home.  Of  meat-offerings,  both  cooked  and  uncooked, 
almost  the  whole  went  to  the  priest,  a  small  portion 
being  first  consumed  on  the  altar. 

To  these  regular  and  constant  sources  of  income  we 
must  add  occasional  perquisites  of  irregular  occurrence. 
When  the  Hebrews  conquered  Midian,  the  priests  had  a 
definite  portion  of  the  spoils  assigned  to  them;  and, 
though  we  find  no  similar  instance  recorded,  the  law 
which  assigned  a  portion  to  the  priests,  and  another  to 
the   Levites,  appears  to  be  intended  to  cover  all  subse- 


122  HISTORY  OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

quent  cases  as  well  as  that  which  occasioned  its  pro- 
mulgation ;  so  that  the  priests  probably  had  a  share  in 
all  the  spoils  of  war  captured  by  the  army.  To  these 
we  must  add  every  thing  consecrated  by  vows  condi- 
tional and  unconditional,  every  reparation  for  a  trespass 
"in  holy  things,"  and  every  reparation  for  a  trespass 
against  a  neighbor  when  the  person  against  whom  the 
trespass  was  committed  could  not  be  found. 

The  above  enumeration  includes  nearly  but  perhaps 
not  quite  all  the  sources  from  which  the  priests  derived 
their  income.  But  they  had,  in  addition,  houses  and 
lands  more  than  sufficient  to  furnish  their  families  with 
homes ;  for  thirteen  cities  with  suburbs  were  assigned  to 
them  in  the  division  of  the  territory  by  Joshua. 

To  the  Levites  belonged,  as  we  have  already  had 
occasion  to  observe,  the  tithes  of  all  the  cattle  and 
produce  remaining  after  the  firstlings  and  first-fruits  had 
been  taken  out ;  subject,  however,  to  a  deduction  of  one- 
tenth,  which  they,  as  well  as  Israelites  of  other  tribes, 
must  pay  for  the  support  of  the  priesthood.  With  the 
exception  of  a  share  in  the  spoils  of  war,  and  the  cities 
with  their  suburbs  assigned  them  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  the  Levites  had  no  other  means  of  support 
than  these  tithes. 

The  law  of  tithes,  as  it  referred  to  domestic  animals, 
required,  that,  after  the  firstlings  had  been  counted  out 
for  the  priests,  every  tenth  animal  of  each  kind  should 
be  marked  for  the  Levites,  and  either  delivered  identically 
to  the  officer  who  had  custody  of  the  tithes,  or  redeemed 
with  money.  There  could  be  no  change  of  animal  for 
animal  to  please  the  taste  or  covetousness  of  the  owner. 
As  they  passed  out  from  a  pen,  every  tenth  animal  was 


THE  EXPENSES  OF  THE   TABERNACLE.  123 

marked,  and  was  no  longer  the  property  of  the  person 
who  owned  the  remaining  nine-tenths.  The  law  was  so 
interpreted,  that,  if  a  householder  had  less  than  ten  of 
any  one  kind  of  animals  after  the  firstlings  were  taken 
out,  he  was  exempt  from  the  tithing  of  that  part  of  his 
property ;  and  probably  a  similar  rule  obtained  in  regard 
to  any  fraction  of  ten  remaining  at  the  end  of  a  count. 

The  law  of  tithes,  as  it  referred  to  produce,  required 
that,  after  the  first-fruits  had  been  taken  out,  the  house- 
holder should  separate  one-tenth  of  the  remainder  for 
the  Levites  before  any  thing  had  been  eaten  by  his  own 
family. 

In  addition  to  the  provision  made  for  the  support  of 
the  services  and  attendants  of  the  tabernacle,  a  tax  was 
levied  on  all  Israelites  for  the  proper  celebration  of  the 
festivals. 

This  was  a  second  tithe,  which  must  also  be  sub- 
tracted before  any  part  of  the  harvest  could  be  used  by 
the  family  for  home  consumption.  But  this  second 
tithe,  though  in  one  sense  a  tax,  belonged  still  to  the 
householder,  and  served,  in  some  degree  at  least,  for  the 
sustenance  of  himself  and  family ;  for  the  law  required 
that  he  should  carry  this  tithe,  either  in  kind,  or  in 
money  at  a  fair  valuation,  to  the  place  where  the  taber- 
nacle was  standing  at  the  time,  and  there  feast  upon  it 
with  his  family  and  friends.  Naturally  this  requisition 
was  fulfilled  at  the  festivals,  and  especially  at  the  festi- 
val of  tabernacles,  when  the  harvest  had  been  recently 
gathered.^ 

1  It  is  not  necessary  to  our  principal  design  to  inquire  furtiier  concerning  tithes  ; 
but  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  state,  that  in  addition  to  the  first  and  second  tithes, 
mentioned  above,  there  was  a  third  tithe,  payable  twice  during  the  period  between 


124  HISTORY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

When  we  take  all  these  sources  of  revenue  into  con- 
sideration, it  appears  as  if  there  could  have  been  no 
deficiency  of  means  for  the  support  of  the  tabernacle. 
Its  services,  its  attendants,  and  its  festivals,  must  have 
been  abundantly  provided  for,  if  these  requisitions  of 
the  law  were  carried  into  execution.  But  as  the  law 
made  no  inquisition  respecting  the  amount  which  an 
individual  should  pay,  but  left  it  to  himself  to  decide, 
only  promising  that  God  would  increase  the  substance 
of  those  who  were  faithful,  and  withhold  his  blessing 
from  those  who  robbed  him,  it  is  probable  that  there 
were  always  some  who  paid  less  than  they  ought,  and 
that,  at  periods  when  religion  had  comparatively  little 
hold  on  the  conscience  or  on  the  hopes  and  fears  of 
the  people,  there  was  a  disposition  widely  prevalent  to 
evade  the  taxes  required  for  its  maintenance. 

This  disposition  would  naturally  affect  the  income 
of  the  attendants  of  the  tabernacle  to  a  greater  extent 
than  it  did  the  provision  for  the  expenses  of  worship, 
or  the  contributions  for  the  celebration  of  festivities 
in  which  the  contributors  personally  participated.  Of 
these  latter  items  of  expense,  one  was  met  by  a  small 
poll-tax  which  could  not  easily  be  evaded,  and  the  other 
appealed  to  the  love  of  good  cheer  and  social  hilarity. 
But  whoever  would  estimate  aright  the  income  of  the 
priests  and  Levites  should  make  a  large  discount  from 
the  amount  due  them  according  to  law.  The  tribe  of 
Levi   was   less    in   number   than   one-twentieth    of  the 


two  sabbatical  y  ears ;  namely,  in  the  third  and  sixth  years.  This  was  called  the 
"  alms-tithe,"  and  was  given  to  the  poor.  After  an  Israelite  had  paid  this  tithe, 
he  was  to  make  a  solemn  declaration  that  he  had  been  faithful,  and  had  withholden 
nothing ;  appealing  to  Jehovah  for  his  blessing  accordingly.   See  Deut.  xxvi.  12-15, 


THE  EXPENSES  OF  THE    TABERNACLE.  12$ 

whole  population,  so  that  a  tenth  of  the  increase  of  a 
year  would  enrich  them  beyond  the  average  wealth  of 
their  brethren  of  other  tribes  ;  but  there  are  indications 
in  the  Old  Testament  that  there  was  sometimes  desti- 
tution among  both  priests  and  Levites  such  as  can  be 
accounted  for  only  on  the  supposition  that  great  num- 
bers of  the  people  were  unfaithful  in  the  payment  of 
tithes  and  offerings.  Probably  the  attendants  of  the 
tabernacle  did  not,  even  in  those  periods  when  the  sense 
of  religious  obligation  was  most  deeply  and  widely  felt, 
receive  a  larger  portion  than  would  have  fallen  to  them . 
from  an  equal  distribution  of  the  increase  of  the  land 
from  year  to  year. 
II* 


PART    II. 

SIGNIFICANCE    OF    THE 
TABERNACLE. 


CHAPTER   I. 

EVIDENCE     THAT     THE     TABERNACLE     WAS     SIGNIFICANT. 

A  PAGAN  traveller  entering  a  Christian  church,  and 
there  beholding  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
would  have  a  very  inadequate  conception  of  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  rite.  To  one  who  has  been  instructed  in 
Christianity,  the  eucharistic  bread  and  wine  are  symbols 
representing  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  and  excite 
his  mind  to  activity  in  a  higher  sphere  of  thought  and 
feeling  than  that  to  which  an  ordinary  table  relates  ;  but 
to  the  pagan  utterly  uninstructed  in  Christianity,  the 
spectacle  would  convey  little  if  any  religious  significance. 

In  like  manner,  and  to  an  equal  extent,  might  a  person 
who  saw  in  the  tabernacle  erected  by  Moses  at  Sinai 
nothing  more  than  a  house  of  worship,  and  outward  ordi- 
nances of  di\dne  service,  come  short  of  comprehending 
its  import.  Indeed,  the  higher  meaning  of  the  institu- 
tion.s  established  by  Moses  was  not  only  hidden  from 
those  who  were  entirely  uninstructed,  but  neglected  and 
forgotten  to  a  great  extent  even  by  the  Hebrews.  As 
Christians  sometimes  content  themselves  with  an  out- 
ward observance  of  the  eucharist,  not  discerning  the 
Lord's  body  therein  ;  so  there  was  a  tendency  among 
Israelites,  greater  perhaps  by  reason  of  the  sensuousness 

of  the  age  than  among  Christians,  to  rest  in  the  observ- 

129 


130  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

ance  of  outward  rites,  and  live  in  f orgetf nines s  of  the 
truths  which  they  symbolized.  But  though  forgotten  by 
the  ungodly  Israelite,  and  hidden  from  the  untutored 
Gentile,  there  were  represented,  in  the  visible  objects  and 
transactions  of  the  tabernacle,  things  invisible  and  eternal. 

Having,  in  the  first  part  of  this  work,  attempted  to 
describe  the  edifice  as  it  appeared  to  the  outward  sense, 
we  now  propose  to  inquire  what  it  imported  in  the  mind 
of  Him  who  first  conceived  it,  and  showed  to  Moses  its 
pattern  in  the  mount.  Of  course,  in  such  an  inquiry,  we 
must  fall  far  short  of  our  aim,  as  we  do  in  all  our  studies 
of  the  thoughts  of  God.  The  tabernacle  imported  more 
to  the  infinite  mind  which  invented  and  patterned  it 
than  even  Moses  was  capable  of  comprehending ;  and 
yet,  in  some  respects  at  least,  Moses  had  better  opportu- 
nities to  study  the  correspondence  between  the  outward 
institutions  he  was  the  instrument  of  establishing,  and 
the  spiritual  truths  they  represented,  than  any  other 
man,  either  Jew  or  Gentile.  But  though  we  cannot 
attain  to  a  complete  mastery  of  the  significance  of  the 
tabernacle,  or  even  to  such  knowledge  of  it  as  was 
imparted  to  Moses,  we  may  to  some  extent  learn  to  read 
its  symbols. 

The  aim  of  the  present  chapter  is  to  prove  the  position 
we  have  taken,  that  the  tabernacle  had  a  symbolic  signifi- 
cance, —  that  the  edifice,  with  its  equipments,  its  attend- 
ants, and  its  services,  as  it  appeared  to  the  senses, 
represented  a  system  of  truth  in  the  higher  sphere  of  the' 
invisible  and  eternal. 

If  we  compare  the  time  in  which  Moses  lived  with 
the  present,  we  find  that  symbolic  language  was  charac- 


THE    TABERNACLE    WAS  SIGNIFICANT.  131 

teristic  of  his  age,  as  written  language  is  of  ours.  Al- 
phabetic writing  is  the  product  of  a  comparatively  high 
civilization.  As  a  child  is  interested  in  the  work  of  the 
engraver  earlier  than  in  the  letter-press  of  the  com- 
positor ;  so  a  nation,  in  its  progress  from  stupidity  and 
ignorance  to  intellectual  activity  and  culture,  comes  to 
the  use  of  symbols  sooner  than  to  the  invention  of  an 
alphabet.  The  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  New  England 
knew  no  letters  ;  but,  when  the  sachem  of  the  Narragan- 
setts  wished  to  menace  the  colonists  at  Plymouth  with 
war,  he  did  it  by  sending  a  bundle  of  arrows  tied  with  a 
snake-skin,  and  understood  the  reply  when  they  returned 
his  snake-skin  filled  with  powder  and  ball. 

The  Hebrew  alphabet  was  unquestionably  in  existence 
before  the  time  of  Moses.  Even  Ewald,  though  main- 
taining that  the  art  of  writing  was  but  little  used  till 
afterward,  is  constrained  to  admit  that  Moses  was  ac- 
quainted with  the  characters  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet, 
and  used  them  in  writing  the  Decalogue,  and  some  other 
fragments  of  the  books  which  pass  under  his  name.  But 
though  Moses  could  understand  the  significance  of  the 
alphabetic  characters,  and  could  by  means  of  them  com- 
mit his  thoughts  to  writing,  it  does  not  follow  that  a 
large  number  of  the  Israelites  could  even  read  alphabetic 
writing.  It  is  still  more  improbable  that  they  could  read 
it  with  fluency.  It  is  easy  to  believe  that,  among  a  peo- 
ple so  long  and  so  much  oppressed  as  they  had  been  in 
Egypt,  literary  culture  was  not  widely  diffused  ;  and  that 
a  large  majority,  if  not  all  of  them,  could  be  more 
instructed  and  impressed  through  symbols  than  by  means 
of  books. 

But   the  use  of   symbols  accords  not    only  with   the 


132  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

degree  of  culture  which  obtained  among  the  people 
whom  Moses  led  out  of  Egypt,  but  with  the  usage  of  the 
age.  The  Egyptians,  for  example,  were  accustomed  to 
convey  their  thoughts  not  only  by  means  of  phonetic 
characters,  but  by  means  of  symbolic  pictures.  In  this 
kind  of  hieroglyphics,  eternity  was  expressed  by  a  ser- 
pent with  its  tail  folded  and  concealed  under  a  part  of  its 
body,  so  that  it  seemed  to  have  no  end  ;  knowledge  was 
indicated  by  a  picture  of  the  heavens  shedding  down 
dew,  which  suggested,  that  as  dew  is  diffused  over  all 
plants,  and  makes  soft  and  pliable  only  those  which  arfe 
capable  of  being  softened,  but  exerts  no  influence  upon 
those  which  in  their  own  nature  are  hard,  so  knowledge 
is  diffused  among  men,  but  only  those  who  are  born  with 
a  happy  genius  seize  and  imbibe  it,  while  those  who  are 
destitute  of  genius  are  uninfluenced ;  impudence  was 
denoted  by  a  fly,  because  this  insect,  when  driven  away, 
persists  in  returning  ;  an  impossibility  was  denoted  by 
the  feet  of  a  man  walking  on  the  water,  or  by  a  man 
walking  without  a  head  ;  strength  was  denoted  by  the 
fore-parts  of  a  lion. 

It  is  still  more  to  our  purpose,  however,  that  the 
Egyptians  made  use  of  symbolic  institutions  as  well  as 
of  symbolic  writing.  Their  temples  were  so  constructed 
and  furnished,  the  rites  performed  in  them  were  so 
ordained,  the  priests  were  so -habited,  as  to  express  to  the 
senses  the  doctrines  of  their  religion.  This  being  indis- 
putable, and  universally  conceded,  it  seems  probable  that 
the  sanctuary  of  the  Hebrews,  with  its  equipments  and 
services,  also  had  some  symbolic  significance ;  for  they 
had  been  long  resident  where  this  mode  of  representing 
ide^s  obtained,  and  Moses  especially  was  learned   in  all 


THE    TABERNACLE    WAS  SIGNIFICANT.  133 

the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians.  Moreover,  though  the 
rehgion  of  the  Egyptians  was  the  very  opposite  of  that 
of  the  Hebrews  in  idea,  recognizing  no  unity  in  the 
divine  nature  except  as  it  was  impersonal,  and  no  per- 
sonaHty  except  as  resolved  into  infinite  multiplicity, 
while  that  of  the  Hebrews  had  for  its  first  principle  the 
unity,  personality,  and  holiness  of  the  Being  whom  they 
worshipped  under  the  name  of  Jehovah,  there  were 
points  of  similitude  in  their  outward  forms ;  for  the 
Egyptians  not  only  used  symbols,  but,  in  many  cases, 
symbols  having  close  resemblance  to  Hebrew  usages. 
In  view  of  this  resemblance,  one  is  still  more  inclined  to 
believe  that  the  forms  of  the  Hebrew  religion  had  a 
symbolic  significance  ;  that,  if  circumcision  among  the 
Egyptians  was  an  outward  sign  with  a  spiritual  meaning, 
so  was  it  among  the  Hebrews  ;  that,  if  the  white  raiment 
and  frequent  ablutions  of  the  Egyptian  priests  had  a 
significance  additional  to  that  of  physical  cleanliness,  so 
were  the  official  garments  and  ceremonial  washings 
prescribed  for  Aaron  likewise  symbolic. 

Such  a  belief  would  not  imply  the  least  degree  of 
mistrust  that  the  younger  institution  had  borrowed  any 
of  the  ideas  symbolized  in  the  older,  or  even  that  it  had 
any  in  common  with  it,  except  so  far  as  two  systems  of 
religion  may  have  some  ideas  in  common,  though  diverse 
in  their  fundamental  principles.  It  is  said  that  the  press 
once  employed  in  printing  the  malignant  and  scurrilous 
productions  of  Thomas  Paine  has  since  been  used  for 
the  dissemination  of  Christian  literature.  Whether  this 
is  true,  or  not,  it  would  at  least  be  possible  to  use  not 
only  the  same  press,  but  the  same  font  of  types,  for  such 
different  and  opposite  purposes.     The  types  which  once 


134  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

served  the  purpose  of  the  enemy  of  Christ  might  be  put 
into  new  combinations,  and  serve  equally  well  the  pur- 
pose of  his  friends.  So  some  of  the  symbols  employed 
in  the  religion  of  Egypt  may  have  been  used  by  Moses 
in  the  representation  of  the  very  different  ideas  which 
Jehovah  through  him  communicated  to  the  Hebrews. 

The  resemblance  between  the  forms  of  the  two  religions 
will  appear  from  a  comparison  of  the  sacred  arks  of  the 
Egyptians  with  the  ark  of  testimony  constructed  for 
the  tabernacle.  When  carried  in  procession,  they  were 
borne  on  the  shoulders  of  the  priests  by  means  of  staves, 
which  were  not  drawn  out,  but  remained  in  place,  when 
the  ark  was  at  rest.  They  were  sometimes  surmounted 
by  winged  figures  similar  to  the  cherubs  which  over- 
shadowed the  sacred  shrine  of  the  Hebrews.  They 
differed,  at  least  in  many  instances,  from  the  ark  of 
Jehovah  in  having  a  boat  beneath,  and  a  canopy  above. 

With  such  resemblance  in  mind  between  the  forms  of 
the  two  religions,  the  probability  seems  very  great,  that 
if,  in  the  religion  of  the  Egyptians,  these  forms  were 
symbols  representing  severally  single  ideas,  and  in  com- 
bination a  system  of  ideas,  so  were  they  also  in  that  of 
the  Hebrews  who  had  so  long  resided  in  Egypt.  If 
any  thing  could  increase  this  probability,  it  would  be  to 
find  a  similar  use  of  symbols  among  other  nations '  of 
remote  antiquity ;  so  that  when  we  learn  that  the  eagle- 
headed  human  figures,  and  the  human-headed  figures 
of  lions  and  bulls,  found  at  Nineveh,  were  emblematic  of 
ideas  in  the  religious  system  of  the  Assyrians,  —  a 
system  as  old,  and,  as  Layard  claims,  older,  than  that 
of  Egypt,^  —  we  cannot  doubt  that  such  a  mode  of  repre- 

1  Nineveh  and  its  Remains.     New  York,  1849.     Vol.  ii.  p.  333. 


THE    TABERNACLE    WAS  SIGNIFICANT.  135 

senting  religious  ideas  was  characteristic  of  the  age  of 
Moses,  and  that  he  made  use  of  it  as  naturally  as  a 
religious  teacher  in  our  day  uses  the  printing-press  for 
the  inculcation  of  his  sentiments. 

But,  if  the  Mosaic  institutions  were  symbolically  sig- 
nificant, we  should  expect  to  find  in  the  Jewish  writings, 
both  inspired  and  uninspired,  some  tokens  that  they 
were  so  regarded.  Such  evidence  is  not  wanting,  and 
we  propose  to  produce  it  in  confirmation  of  the  argu- 
ment derived  from  the  usage  of  the  age.  The  evidence 
is  more  direct  and  positive  in  writings  of  a  later  date 
than  in  the  Old  Testament ;  and  the  reason  doubtless 
is  that,  in  the  centuries  preceding  the  advent  of  Christ, 
symbolic  representations  spoke  for  themselves,  and  in  a 
language  which  every  one  could  understand.  There 
was  no  more  need  for  Moses  to  say,  "  This  tabernacle,  with 
its  equipments,  its  priesthood,  and  its  services,  repre- 
sents invisible  things,"  than  for  Landseer  to  put  a  label 
under  one  of  his  paintings  to  inform  the  beholder  that 
it  was  designed  to  be  a  picture  of  a  horse.  We  may 
believe  that  Moses,  learned  as  he  was  in  all  the  wisdom 
of  the  Egyptians,  could  of  himself  have  represented,  in 
this  the  language  of  his  age,  the  truths  he  was  commis- 
sioned to  convey,  so  as  to  be  understood  by  those  who 
were  acquainted  with  the  language.  But  he  was  not 
left  to  do  it  of  himself :  the  symbols  themselves,  as  well 
as  the  truths  they  exhibited,  were  communicated  to  him 
on  Sinai ;  so  that  infinite  wisdom  is  responsible  not  only 
for  the  truth  inculcated,  but  for  the  perfect  use  of  the 
vehicle  with  which  it  was  conveyed.  The  tabernacle 
being,  then,  in  itself  a  revelation  of  religious  ideas  in  the 


136  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

language  in  which  such  ideas  were  usually  communi- 
cated, it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  revelation  would 
be  accompanied  with  the  declaration  of  itself  in  another 
kind  of  language.  As  a  man  who  speaks  to  another 
viva  voce  does  not  waste  his  time  in  saying,  "  I  am 
speaking  to  you  ;  "  so  it  is  not  necessary  for  the  author 
of  a  symbolic  representation  to  inform  those  who  are 
skilled  in  the  language  of  symbols  that  he  is  now 
employing  that  language.^ 

In  looking  to  Jewish  authors  for  evidence  that  the 
Mosaic  institutions  were  regarded  as  symbolic,  it  may  be 
advisable  to  begin  with  such  as  have  written  since  the 
Christian  era.  These  would  be  more  likely  to  speak 
directly  to  the  point  than  those  who  lived  while  symbolic 
representation  was  still  in  vogue.  We  find,  then,  that 
the  commentators  of  the  Talmud  agree  in  regarding  the 
tabernacle,  and  all  connected  with  it,  as  a  system  of 
symbols  ;  and,  whatever  absurdities  they  may  be  guilty 
of  in  their  attempts  to  interpret,  their  testimony  is  not 
without  value ;  for,  though  they  had  lost  the  true  inter- 
pretation, they  had  retained  the  tradition  that  there  was 
a  mystery,  a  deeper  meaning  than  appeared  to  the 
senses,  in  the  now  abrogated  ceremonial  of  their  fathers, 
Josephus  and  Philo,  writers  of  an  earlier  date,  also  tes- 
tify that  the  tabernacle  was  a  symbol  both  in  its  integrity 

1  From  the  same  stand-point,  one  may  see  also  why  Moses  says  so  little  in  pho- 
netic language  of  the  great  truths  symbolically  conveyed  in  the  institutions  he 
established.  Having  made  his  choice  between  the  two  languages,  or,  to  speak 
more  correctly,  having  been  directed  to  employ  the  symbolic  as  the  more  impress- 
ive and  the  more  easily  understood,  he  did  not  translate  into  the  other,  because, 
so  far  as  the  people  of  his  day  were  concerned,  it  would  have  been  useless.  They 
were  but  children,  and  could  understand  the  pictvu-e  much  better  than  the  state- 
ment of  the  truth  by  means  of  characters  or  sounds  with  which  it  has  no  natural 
conespondence 


•  THE    TABERNACLE    WAS  SIGNIFICANT.  137 

and  in  its  parts ;  Philo  being,  so  far  as  is  known,  the 
father  of  that  interpretation  which  makes  the  tabernacle 
a  microcosm,  and  Josephus  being  in  this  respect  his 
disciple. 

Passing  now  into  the  centuries  before  the  Christian 
era,  and  questioning  the  canonical  and  apocryphal 
writers  of  the  Old  Testament,  we  find,  as  has  been 
already  observed,  that  they  do  not  testify  so  directly  to 
the  point  as  Philo,  Josephus,  and  the  rabbies  of  the 
Gemara,  but  that  circumstantial  evidence  is,  neverthe- 
less, to  be  found  in  their  writings  of  the  truth  of  our 
position.  We  postpone  the  exhibition  of  this  in  detail 
till  there  is  occasion  to  use  the  Old  Testament  for  the 
purpose  of  interpretation  ;  only  observing  at  present,  to 
illustrate  what  kind  of  evidence  is  intended,  that  forms 
of  expression  are  transferred  from  the  rites  of  the  taber- 
nacle to  religious  experience,  as  if  there  were  such  a 
correspondence  between  the  outward  and  the  inward 
that  the  language  of  the  former  might  be  unconsciously 
used  by  one  who  had  in  mind  only  spiritual  transactions 
with  God.  For  example :  David  says,  "  Purge  me  with 
hyssop,  and  I  shall  be  clean,"  ^  as  if  hyssop  were  a 
symbol  of  purification.  Again  he  says,  "  Thou  desirest 
not  sacrifice  ;  else  would  I  give  it :  thou  delightest  not 
in  burnt-offering:  the  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken 
spirit  :  a  broken  and  a  contrite  heart,  O  God,  thou  wilt 
not  despise,"  ^  as  if  a  sacrifice  signified  contrition,  and 
would  be  a  mockery  without  it.  We  pass  over,  for  the 
present,  all  other  evidence  from  the  Old  Testament,  to 
examine,  last  of  all,  the  New  Testament  on  the  question 
at  issue. 

1  Ps.  li.  7.  2  ps.  li.  16-17. 


138  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

It  appears  that  in  the  time  of  Christ  the  language  of 
symbols  had  not  entirely  passed  out  of  use,  since  it  was 
largely  employed  in  revealing  to  one  of  his  twelve  apos- 
tles "  things  which  must  shortly  come  to  pass."  The 
visions  of  the  Apocalypse  are  scenic  representations 
which  had  one  meaning  when  literally  understood,  and 
another  when  regarded  as  figures  of  the  real  things  they 
represented.  We  see  evidence,  however,  in  the  Book 
itself,  that  symbolic  writing  was  becoming  obsolete ;  for 
here  and  there  hints  are  given  to  assist  the  persecuted 
church  in  the  interpretation  of  the  visions,  but  not 
enough  to  open  them  to  the  comprehension  of  its  ene- 
mies. As  the  Apocalypse  of  John  needed  such  accom- 
panying hints  to  point  toward  its  true  interpretation, 
because  the  symbolic  had  been  to  a  great  extent  super- 
seded by  the  phonetic,  and  had  become  almost  a  dead 
language,  so  for  the  same  reason  there  was  occasion  for 
direct  testimony  in  the  New  Testament  to  the  figurative 
significance  of  the  Mosaic  institutions.  When  the  books 
of  the  Old  Testament  were  written,  it  was  not  necessary 
that  one  who  used  the  language  of  symbols  should  give 
notice  that  he  was  doing  so,  or  become  his  own  interpre- 
ter ;  but  in  the  time  of  the  apostles  there  might  be  many 
who  without  help  would  not  only  be  unable  to  interpret 
the  Mosaic  institutions,  but  even  fail  to  apprehend  that 
a  figurative  meaning  was  concealed  within  the  outward 
shell. 

The  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  therefore. 
when,  with  the  design  of  confirming  Israelites  who  had 
become  Christians  in  their  new  faith,  he  had  occasion  to 
compare  it  with  Mosaism,  expressly  declares  that  the 
outward  institutions  of  the  latter  were  symbols  setting 


THE   TABERNACLE    WAS  SIGNIFICANT.  139 

forth  to  the  eye  of  sense  ideas  which  had  now  been  ful- 
filled in  Christianity ;  and  shows  at  considerable  length 
how  the  two  systems  correspond  one  with  the  other.  In 
presence  of  such  proof,  a  Christian  can  no  more  hesitate 
to  believe  that  the  tabernacle  had  a  symbolic  significance, 
than  if  he  were  familiar  with  the  language  in  which  it 
inculcated  the  truths  common  to  Mosaism  and  Chris- 
tianity. 

The  language  of  symbols  furnishes  to  one  who  is 
acquainted  with  it  convincing  proof  that  the  tabernacle 
was  designed  to  inculcate  religious  truth  in  that  lan- 
guage. This  was  the  evidence  which  the  contemporaries 
of  Moses  had  to  such  an  extent  that  they  needed  no 
other.  A  perfect  mastery  of  the  language  is  now  impos- 
sible :  it  may  be,  however,  so  far  acquired  and  read  in 
the  Mosaic  institutions,  that  one  can  have  no  more  doubt 
that  they  were  designed  to  communicate  the  ideas  he 
receives  from  them  than  if  he  were  perusing  printed 
pages.  If  the  reader  is  not  already  convinced,  there  is 
hope  that  he  may  become  so  when  he  sees  how  symbols 
of  single  ideas  are  here  articulated  into  a  complete  and 
symmetrical  body  of  truth,  as  the  letters  of  the  alphabet 
are  put  together  to  form  the  syllables,  words,  and  sen- 
tences of  a  book. 


y 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE     TABERNilCLE     SYMBOLIZED     THE     TRUTHS    OF     THE 
MOSAIC    REVELATION. 

If  the  tabernacle  was  designed  to  represent,  and  incul- 
cate upon  the  Israelites,  a  system  of  religious  ideas,  it  is 
natural  to  infer  that  it  represented  the  system  commu- 
nicated through  Moses.  It  is  scarcely  possible  that  a 
system  of  ideas,  and  a  system  of  symbols,  communi- 
cated from  the  same  source,  to  the  same  people,  through 
the  same  mediator,  at  the  same  time,  should  not  corre- 
spond one  with  the  other. 

What,  then,  were  the  truths  revealed  through  Moses, 
and  represented  in  the  tabernacle  and  its  appurtenances  .'' 
We  have  the  means,  outside  of  the  symbolic  institutions, 
of  acquainting  ourselves  with  the  principal  features  of 
the  Mosaic  system,  and,  in  doing  so,  of  establishing  a 
line  of  interpretation  with  which  we  must  keep  parallel 
in  all  attempts  to  fix  the  meaning  of  particular  symbols. 
If,  for  example,  it  were  suggested  that  the  two  cherubs 
on  the  ark  of  the  covenant  should  be  interpreted  accord- 
ing to  Egyptian  ideas,  as  symbols  of  two  deities,  one 
male  and  the  other  female,  the  Decalogue  instantly 
extinguishes  the  suggestion  as  inconsistent  with  its  first 
and  second  requirements. 

The  truths  which  God  taught  through  Moses  in 
140 


FHE    TABERNACLE  SYMBOLIZED  MOSAISM.      141 

regard  to  himself  are  characteristic  features  of  the  revela- 
tion made  at  Sinai,  and,  as  they  are  specially  important 
for  the  end  we  have  in  view,  should  be  held  in  remem- 
brance as  we  search  for  the  significance  either  of  the 
tabernacle  as  a  whole,  or  of  its  particular  parts. 

Foremost  of  these  truths  was  the  luiity  of  God. 
Monotheism,  though  not  then  first  made  known  to  the 
Hebrews,  was  distinctly  proclaim.ed  as  a  fundamental 
article  of  their  religion.  They  had  received  it  from 
Abraham,  who,  as  a  witness  for  it,  went  out  from  his 
country,  and  his  father's  family,  to  spend  his  life  among 
strangers,  and  leave  to  his  posterity  no  landed  inherit- 
ance save  "  the  field,  and  the  cave  which  was  therein, 
and  all  the  trees  which  were  in  the  field,"  ^  purchased  as 
a  burying-place  for  himself  and  his  family.  But  they 
had  so  long  lived  among  the  idolatrous  Egyptians  that 
a  new  affirmation  of  the  unity  of  God  was  needed  to 
keep  alive  their  ancestral  faith,  and  deepen  it  in  their 
convictions  and  affections  beyond  the  possibility  of  eradi- 
cation. Accordingly  God  commences  his  communication 
to  the  Hebrews  at  Sinai  with  a  requirement  that  he 
shall  be  the  only  object  of  their  worship.  "  I  am,"  he 
says,  "  Jehovah  thy  God,  which  have  brought  thee  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage.  Thou 
shalt  have  no  other  gods  in  my  presence."  ^  Afterward, 
when  they  were  soon  to  enter  the  promised  land, 
Moses  was  directed  to  remind  them  that  "  Jehovah  is 
God,  and  there  is  none  else  beside  him,"  ^  and  to 
proclaim,  "  Hear,  O  Israel :  Jehovah  our  God  is  one 
Jehovah."  * 

1  Gen.  xxiii.  17.  2  Exod.  xx.  2,  3.  3  Deut.  iv  :  35. 

4  Deut.  vi.  4.  This  was  one  of  the  passages  which  the  Jews  were  accustomed 
to  write  on  the  door-posts  of  their  houses.  See  Thomson,  The  Land  and  the 
Book.     New  York,  1859.    Vol.  i.  p.  141. 


142  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

Another  important  truth  which  the  Mosaic  system 
taught  concerning  God  was  his  personality.  Even 
among  the  heathen,  the  more  thoughtful  and  learned 
conceived  of  something  superior  to  their  numerous 
deities ;  of  one,  or  else  of  two  antagonistic  powers, 
by  which  all  things  were  controlled.  But  those  who 
believed  in  one  supreme  power  conceived  of  it  as  inca- 
pable of  intelligence,  of  emotion,  of  will,  of  self-respect, 
of  sympathy  and  fellowship  with  others.  It  was  an 
important  peculiarity,  therefore,  of  the  religion  of  the 
Hebrews,  that  it  attributed  to  the  only  object  of  their 
worship,  personality.  Jehovah  was  in  their  conception 
the  living  God,  a  Spirit,  "  the  God  of  the  spirits  of  all 
flesh."  1  The  word  "  Jehovah  "  was  a  proper  name,  the 
name  of  a  person.  It  was  not  only  a  proper  nama,  but 
it  had  a  meaning  which  of  itself  asserted  personality. 
It  was  implied,  in  the  very  name  /  am,  that  what  it  rep- 
resented was  capable  of  speaking  in  the  first  person, 
and  by  consequence  possessed  of  all  the  attributes  of  a 
spirit.  These  attributes  are  everywhere  implied  in  what 
is  affirmed  of  Jehovah.  He  is  represented  as  not  only 
powerful,  but  intelligent;  as  susceptible  of  love  and 
hatred,  of  jealousy  and  compassion ;  as  having  plans,  and 
a  determination  to  execute  them  ;  as  entering  into  cove- 
nant and  fellowship  with  men.  "  The  idea  of  God  in 
the  Jewish  Church  was  the  very  reverse  of  a  negation 
or  an  abstraction."  ^  They  thought  of  him  as  a  living^ 
Being  who  had  brought  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 
out  of  the  house  of  bondage,  with  a  high  hand  and  an 
outstretched  arm ;  whose  eyes  were  ever  upon  them. 

1  Num.  xxvii.  i6. 

2  Stanley,  Jewish  Church.     New  York,  1867.     Vol.  i.  p.  169. 


THE    TABERNACLE  SYMBOLIZED  MOSAISM.      143 

Still  another  of  this  group  of  ideas  was  the  Jioliness 
of  God.  The  heathen  conceived  of  their  deities  as  devi- 
ating more  or  less  frequently  from  the  line  of  rectitude. 
No  such  dishonor  could  be  imputed  to  the  God  of  the 
Hebrews.  He  gloried  in  his  freedom  from  it,  and 
required  that  they  should  in  this  respect  resemble  him. 
"  Speak,"  he  said,  "  to  all  the  congregation  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  and  say  unto  them.  Ye  shall  be  holy,  for  I 
Jehovah,  your  God,  am  holy."  ^  They  also  gloried  in 
this  distinctive  attribute  of  their  deity,  and  sang,  "  Who 
is  like  unto  thee,  O  Jehovah,  among  the  gods  }  Who  is 
like  thee,  glorious  in  holiness  .''  "  ^  This  attribute  was 
something  more,  however,  than  mere  freedom  from  the 
defilement  of  actual  wrong  :  it  was  an  intense  love  of 
right,  and  hatred  of  wrong,  evincing  itself  in  law  and 
government,  reward  and  penalty. 

Next  after  these  annunciations  in  regard  to  God,  one 
may  mention,  as  a  prominent  and  characteristic  feature 
of  the  Mosaic  system,  that  covenant  between  Jehovah 
and  the  Hebrews,  which,  through  the  mediation  of 
Moses,  was  not  only  revealed  as  an  idea,  but  established 
as  a  fact.  He  who  thus  united  in  himself  the  eternity 
and  omnipotence  from  which  all  existence  originated,  — 
the  intelligence,  emotions,  and  will  of  personality,  —  and 
the  most  intense  partisanship  in  favor  of  right  as  against 
wrong,  brought  Israel  out  of  Egypt  to  Sinai,  and  there 
entered  into  special  relations  with  them,  involving  mutual 
engagements. 

By  an  examination  of  the  covenant,  we  discover  that 
God's  choice  of  the  Hebrews  was  at  its  foundation. 
This   election   had  been    manifested,  indeed,  centuries 

1  Lev.  xix.  2.  2  Exod.  xv.  11, 


144  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

before,  in  the  time  of  Abraham  their  ancestor,  with 
whom  he  entered  into  a  covenant,  promising  to  be  a  God 
to  him  and  to  liis  seed  ;  and  engaging  him  to  be  a 
witness  for  the  unity  of  God  against  the  prevalent  hea- 
thenism. That  election  was  now  manifested  anew  in  the 
calling  of  the  children  of  Abraham  out  of  Egypt  to 
receive  at  Sinai  the  revelations,  institutions,  and  laws 
which  he  gave  them  by  the  hand  of  Moses. 

The  covenant  established  with  the  Hebrews  at  Sinai 
was  substantially  the  same  in  its  terms  as  that  which 
God  made  with  Abraham.  Jehovah  promised  to  be  their 
God,  and  put  them  under  engagement  to  be  his  people. 
This  agreement  involved  several  particulars  on  either 
side. 

The  people  on  their  part  covenanted  to  be  holy.  They 
promised  to  keep  the  commands  written  on  the  two 
tables  of  testimony,  and  to  observe  the  positive  institu- 
tions with  which  they  were  accompanied.  Their  consent 
to  become  the  covenant  people  of  Jehovah  bound  them 
to  obedience  as  respects  not  only  duties  which  are  of 
universal  and  eternal  obligation,  but  all  required  observ- 
ances. The  holiness  demanded  was  absolute  freedom 
from  transgression,  designed  or  undesigned,  conscious 
or  unconscious. 

Their  covenant  God  on  his  part  engaged  to  be  their 
deliverer.  He  had  already  broken  the  yoke  of  their  ser- 
vitude, and  now  engaged  to  be  their  guide  through  the 
perils  of  the  wilderness,  till  he  should  bring  them  to  the 
land  promised  to  their  fathers,  —  a  good  land  flowing  with 
milk  and  honey,  —  and  establish  them  in  the  possession 
of  it.  He  introduces  the  requirements  which  he  makes 
of  them  as  his  people  with  the  annunciation  of  himself 


THE    TABERNACLE  SYMBOLIZED  MOSAISM.      145 

as  their  deliverer.^  "  I  am  Jehovah,  thy  God,  which 
have  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the 
house  of  bondage."  ^  By  this  declaration  he  invites  their 
confidence  in  his  ability  and  readiness  to  deliver  when- 
ever and  in  whatever  respect  deliverance  might  be 
needed.  He  engaged  to  forgive  their  sins.  He  was 
holy,  but  nevertheless  gracious.  He  would  by  no  means 
clear  those  whom  he  was  under  obligation  to  punish ; 
but  he  was  disposed  to  pardon  whenever  pardon  was 
consistent  with  right.  He  proclaimed  himself  "  merciful 
and  gracious,  long-suffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness 
and  truth,  keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  ini- 
quity, transgression,  and  sin ;  and  that  will  by  no  means 
clear  the  guilty  ;  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon 
the  children,  and  upon  the  children's  children,  unto  the 
third  and  fourth  generation."  ^ 

These  prorpinent  ideas  of  the  Mosaic  revelation 
establish  a  line  with  which  we  must  keep  parallel  in  all 
attempts  to  interpret  its  symbolic  institutions.  The 
tabernacle  represented  Mosaism  in  distinction  from  hea- 
thenism on  the  one  hand,  and  Christianity  on  the  other. 
If  the  Hebrew  religion  differed  from  that  of  Egypt,  the 
significance  of  the  tabernacle  is  to  be  found  in  the  doc- 
trines of  the  former,  and  not  of  the  latter.  So  also,  if 
the  system  of  Moses  was  not  identical  with  that  of 
Christ,  the  symbolic  institutions  established  at  Sinai 
represent  the  Mosaic,  in  distinction  from  the  Christian 
system. 

1  Ewald  regards  the  idea  of  God  as  a  deliverer  as  the  fundamental  idea  of  the 
Hebrew  religion.     Geschichte  des  Volkes  Israel.     Translation.    Vol.  ii.  p.  109. 

2  Exod.  XX.  2,  3. 

3  Exod.  xxxiv.  6,  7. 


146  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

That  the  Hebrew  rehgion  was  radically  different  from 
any  other  prevalent  at  the  time  of  the  exodus,  instantly 
appears  to  one  who,  being  already  acquainted  with  the 
Egyptian  and  other  ancient  systems,  turns  his  eye  even 
for  a  single  glance  at  the  prominent  features  of  the 
Mosaic  revelation.  The  nations  of  antiquity  had  each 
its  religious  system,  and  represented  it  in  symbol ;  but 
until  Jehovah  revealed  himself  on  Sinai,  and  showed  to 
Moses  the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle,  all  S3^mbolic  institu- 
tions, however  different  in  themselves  and  in  the  ideas 
they  represented,  certainly  were  polytheistic.  As  such 
they  belonged  to  one  family,  and  were  all  radically  dif- 
ferent from  those  of  the  Hebrews,  which  could  not  have 
inculcated  a  multiplicity  of  deities  because  the  Hebrew 
idea  of  the  unity  of  God  is  utterly  intolerant  of  such 
teaching. 

It  will  serve  our  purpose  if  we  take  the  religion  of 
Egypt  as  a  representative  of  ancient  heathenism,  and 
show  that  its  ideas  were  so  adverse  to  those  of  Mosaism 
as  to  involve  the  certainty  that  the  tabernacle  did  not 
stand  for  the  same  or  even  for  similar  ideas  as  the 
symbolic  institutions  of  Egypt.  Egypt  will  sufifice  :  for 
however  its  religion  differed  from  that  of  Assyria  or 
other  ancient  nations,  it  belonged,  as  has  been  said,  to 
the  same  class  ;  and  it  will  best  serve  our  purpose  because 
of  the  close  connection  between  the  Egyptians  and  the 
Hebrews  when  the  two  nations  dwelt  together  on  the 
same  soil. 

This  close  connection  naturally  suggests  the  supposi- 
tion, that  as  both  nations  made  use  of  symbols  in  the 
utterance  of  religious  thought,  and,  to  some  extent  at 
least,  of  similar  forms  of  symbolization,  there  may  have 


THE    TABERNACLE  SYMBOLIZED  MOSAISM.      147 

been  some  resemblance  in  the  ideas  inculcated  by  the 
two  systems  respectively.  The  fact  that  Moses  was 
learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  gives  addi- 
tional plausibility  to  the  supposition  that  he  adopted 
substantially  the  views  of  his  teachers. 

That  there  was  a  resemblance  between  the  two  reli- 
gions, in  some  of  their  symbols,  is  undeniable.  Some 
instances  of  it  have  been  given  in  the  preceding  chapter. 
But  this  does  not  necessarily  imply  a  similarity  of  ideas. 
As  the  same  words  may  be  employed  by  writers  of  oppo- 
site sentiments,  so  the  same  symbols  may  be  used  in 
different  and  adverse  systems.  To  show  that  the 
Hebrew  religion  had  no  affinity  with  that  of  Egypt,  it  will 
be  sufficient  to  compare  two  or  three  prominent  features 
of  the  latter  with  the  former,  as  already  sketched. 

The  Hebrew  conceived  of  God  as  a  spirit,  separate 
from,  and  superior  to,  the  universe  he  had  created  out  of 
nothing,  and  was  governing  by  his  power.  The  educated 
Egyptian  was  a  pantheist,  identifying  God  with  nature, 
and  thus  leaving  out  of  his  conception  whatever  belongs 
to  personality.  The  power  everywhere  manifest  in 
nature,  he  thought  of  as  inherent  in  nature  itself,  and 
incapable  of  consciousness  and  will. 

The  God  of  the  Hebrews  would  allow  no  rivals.  It 
was  not  sufficient  that  his  people  should  acknowledge 
him  as  a  deity  :  they  must  have  no  other  gods.  He 
claimed  that  he  was  the  only  living  God,  and  required 
that  they  who  worshipped  him  should  worship  him  as 
such.  But  the  impersonal  power  which  the  Egyptian 
conceived  of  as  above  and  behind  all  things  could  have 
no  such  jealousy  ;  and  so  the  Egyptian  system  had  a 
multitude  of  inferior  deities  representing  perhaps,  origi- 


148  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

nally,  particular  powers  of  nature,  but  conceived  of  by  the 
common  people  in  obedience  to  a  demand  of  their  spir- 
itual nature  as  spirits.  These  inferior  deities  divided 
among  themselves  the  dominion  of  the  country;  each 
having  his  particular  city  or  district  where  was  the  chief 
seat  of  his  worship,  but  not  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
others,  for  in  the  most  fraternal  spirit  he  admitted  his 
fellow  gods  and  goddesses  to  a  participation  with  him  in 
his  temple,  and  in  the  regard  of  his  people. 

The  God  of  the  Hebrews  would  allow  no  images  of 
himself.  But  every  Egyptian  deity  who  had  a  temple 
was  represented  in  it  by  an  image  which  usually  com- 
bined parts  of  the  human  body,  and  of  one  or  more 
animals.  Occupying  the  principal  place  of  honor  in 
the  temple,  it  was  surrounded  by  many  similar  represen- 
tations of  other  deities.  These  images  were  originally 
regarded,  and  perhaps  always  by  those  who  were  learned 
in  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  as  symbols  ;  but  the 
people  in  general  failed  to  grasp  the  meaning  of  the  sym- 
bol, and  conceived  of  a  god  having  an  outward  shape  like 
that  which  they  saw. 

We  need  not  further  delineate  the  two  systems.  The 
antagonism  between  them  is  already  so  apparent  as  to 
forbid  the  supposition  that  Moses  intended  to  inculcate 
in  the  symbolic  institutions  he  established  substantially 
the  same  ideas  as  were  represented  in  the  symbolic  lan- 
guage and  institutions  of  the  country  in  which  he  was 
born  and  reared.  He  followed  the  custom  of  his  time  in 
employing  symbols  for  the  purpose  of  communicating 
ideas ;  but  the  ideas  he  was  charged  to  communicate 
were  essentially  different  from  those  of  ancient  hea- 
thenism  in   general,  and  of    the    Egyptian   religion   in 


THE    TABERNACLE  SYMBOLIZED  MOSAISM. 


149 


particular,  and  not  only  different,  but  as  antagonistic  as 
light  is  to  darkness. 

But  if  Mosaism  is  to  be  distinguished,  on  the  one  side, 
from  the  heathenism  which  preceded  and  was  contem- 
porary with  it,  so  must  it  be,  on  the  other  side,  from  the 
dispensation  which  it  prepared  the  way  for,  and  ushered 
in.  There  is,  indeed,  no  contrariety  between  the  ideas 
of  Moses  and  those  of  Christ ;  for  they  received  their 
commissions  from  the  same  source,  and  were  both  faith- 
ful —  the  former  as  a  servant,  and  the  latter  as  a  son  —  to 
Him  who  sent  them.  There  is  no  difference  between  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  in  principle,  but  only  in 
the  stage  of  development  at  which  they  present  the 
divine  plan  of  redemption.  As  there  is  a  difference  not 
to  be  overlooked  between  a  mature  man  and  the  same 
person  as  he  was  when  an  infant,  or  between  an  infant 
and  the  same  being  as  he  was  when  an  embryo;  so  there 
is  a  difference  of  development  between  Christianity  and 
Mosaism,  which  must  not  be  forgotten  in  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  tabernacle. 

It  was  the  true  religion  in  distinction  from  heathenism 
which  was  symbolized  in  the  edifice,  the  furniture,  the 
priesthood,  the  services,  and  the  calendar  of  the  tab- 
ernacle ;  but  it  was  truth  from  the  stand-point  of  Moses, 
and  not  of  Christ.  The  outward  ordinances  of  the 
Hebrew  religion  were  for  the  benefit  of  that  nation  from 
the  time  of  Moses  onward  to  the  advent  of  Christ ;  after 
which  time  they  were  inappropriate,  as  not  rightly 
representing  the  true  religion  in  its  recent  stage  of 
development.  Revealed  truth,  having  passed  beyond  its 
period  of  immaturity,  rejected  these  institutions  of  its 
earlier  years  as  a  person  puts  away  childish  things  when 
13* 


150  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

he  becomes  a  man.  They  passed  away,  however,  not 
because  they  were  symbols,  but  because  they  were  sym- 
bols of  a  stage  of  revelation  which  had  given  place  to  a 
later  and  brighter  exhibition  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the 
salvation  of  men.  The  writers  of  the  New  Testament 
had  no  objection  to  the  use  of  symbolic  language.  The 
Apocalypse  is  partly  written  in  that  dialect;  and  the 
symbols  of  the  Old  Testament  are  often  referred  to  as 
illustrative  of  the  truths  of  Christianity.  The  two 
dispensations  of  the  same  religion  had  so  much  in  com- 
mon that  the  later  could  use  the  language  of  the  earlier, 
but  only  because  it  had  some  of  the  same  ideas  to 
express.  The  symbolic  institutions  of  Moses  belonged 
primarily  to  the  Mosaic,  and  not  to  the  Christian 
dispensation,  and  can  be  used  by  the  latter  only  because 
it  is  the  same  religion  in  a  later  stage  of  development. 

This  view  is  different  from  that  which  has  been  gen- 
erally entertained ;  the  reference  of  the  tabernacle  to  an 
existing  dispensation  having  been  overlooked  by  Chris- 
tian expositors  searching  for  a  prophetic  significance  in 
the  Hebrew  institutions.  The  Mosaic  symbols  were 
undoubtedly  prophetic  of  the  truths  of  Christianity,  but 
only  as  they  were  symbols  of  the  truths  of  an  existing 
dispensation  confessedly  incomplete.  They  were  secon- 
darily types  or  prophetic  symbols,  but  only  as  they  were 
primarily  symbols. 

No  Christian  writer  has  denied  that  the  old  dispensa- 
tion contained  types  of  the  new :  but  there  has  been  a  , 
wide  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  extent  of  such 
typical  connection  ;  some  confining  it  to  such  points  as 
are  expressly  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
others   finding   types    wherever  any  resemblance  could 


THE   TABERNACLE  SYMBOLIZED  MOSAISM.       151 

be  seen  or  imagined  between  the  two  dispensations. 
Believing  that  the  tabernacle  was  secondarily  typical, 
but  only  as  it  was  first  symbolic,  it  is  our  intention  to 
devote  the  next  chapter  to  its  typical  significance ;  but 
at  present  we  leave  out  of  view  the  reference  which  it 
really  had  to  Christianity,  in  order  to  maintain  that 
primarily  it  referred  to  the  system  of  Moses,  and  not  of 
Christ. 

This  is  evident  from  the  custom  of  the  age  in  which 
Moses  lived.  The  Egyptians  represented  and  inculcated 
the  ideas  of  their  religion  in  outward  forms  and  transac- 
tions. So  did  the  Assyrians.  It  is  reasonable  to  infer 
that  Moses  wished  to  teach,  by  means  of  the  ritual  he 
established,  not  only  his  own  system  in  distinction  from 
those  of  heathenism,  but  his  own  system  as  it  then  was 
in  distinction  from  what  it  was  to  become  by  subsequent 
progress.  It  is  natural  to  believe  that  what  he  taught 
symbolically,  corresponded  with  what  he  taught  phoneti- 
cally. We  can  discover  no  reason  for  leaving  unuttered, 
or  unwritten,  that  which  was  represented  to  the  eye. 

He  had  a  system  of  religious  truth  to  communicate  to 
the  Hebrews,  containing  all  that  their  spiritual  necessi- 
ties required ;  revealing  the  nature  and  character  of  God, 
the  fact  of  a  covenant  relation  between  God  and  them, 
with  provision  for  the  pardon  and  restoration  of  the 
penitent  transgressor,  and  for  the  excision  of  the  wilfully 
and  persistently  disobedient.  Did  he  not,  when  teaching 
by  word  of  mouth,  communicate  to  them  substantially 
the  same  system  which  was  pictured  in  the  edifice,  the 
furniture,  the  priesthood,  the  services,  and  the  calendar 
of  their  worship  ? 

We  need  not,  as  Christians,  be  jealous  of  admitting 


152  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

this  :  we  can  find  place  afterward  for  the  truths  of 
Christianity  in  a  secondary  significance  of  the  taber- 
nacle,—  a  significance  well  established  on  its  primary 
meaning  as  a  foundation.  To  ignore  or  deny  the  pri- 
mary reference  of  it  to  the  system  of  Moses,  would 
attribute  to  him  a  departure  from  the  prevalent  custom 
of  inculcating  upon  men,  by  means  of  symbols,  the 
religious  system  under  which  they  were  to  live. 

The  primary  reference  of  the  tabernacle  to  the  Mosaic, 
in  distinction  from  the  Christian  dispensation,  is  further 
evident  from  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  Hebrews. 
There  was  then  so  little  spirituality  in  the  world,  so  little 
receptivity  for  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  that  a  people 
must  be  separated  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  brought 
under  severe  and  protracted  training,  and  thus  educated 
till  they  should  become  capable  of  apprehending  the 
glad  tidings  of  salvation  by  Christ.  The  chosen  people, 
when  brought  out  of  Egypt,  could  receive  only  the  rudi- 
ments of  the  gospel.  Their  religious  thought  and 
experience  were  in  so  low  a  plane,  that  they  would  not 
have  been  able  to  understand  or  improve  the  larger 
revelations  afterward  made.  They  needed  to  receive 
the  truths  of  Christianity  by  degrees,  beginning  with  so 
much  as  was  revealed  through  Moses  at  Sinai. 

Such  being  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  Hebrews, 
did  they  not  need  aid  in  the  study  of  the  dispensation 
under  which  they  lived,  and  in  the  reception  of  its  truths 
into  their  religious  life,  similar  to  that  which  their 
contemporaries  found  in  the  outward  representations 
provided  for  them  by  their  religious  instructors  .'*  There  is 
abundant  evidence,  in  the  history  of  the  Hebrews  during 
the  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  that  they  found  the 


THE    TABERNACLE  SYMBOLIZED  MOSAISM.       153 

religion  taught  by  Moses  somewhat  too  spiritual,  and 
that  they  easily  revolted  from  their  holy  and  invisible 
God  to  vv^orship  the  idols  of  the  nations  around  them. 
Is  it  not  improbable  that  such  a  people  would  be  left  to 
study,  and  digest  into  spiritual  nutriment,  the  revelation 
made  to  them  of  truths  so  high  and  remote  from  the 
ordinary  course  of  their  thoughts,  without  the  customary 
aids  to  religious  meditation  and  worship  ?  Is  it  not  still 
more  improbable  that  they  would  be  left  without  such 
help  in  the  use  of  their  own  system,  and  at  the  same 
time  burdened  with  a  ritual  which  prefigured  a  system 
even  more  difficult  of  comprehension  than  their  own  ? 
Does  it  not  seem  that  the  tabernacle,  as  an  exponent 
of  Christianity,  would  be  useless  to  the  contemporaries  of 
Moses ;  but,  as  a  scenic  representation  of  the  truths 
revealed  through  him,  would  be  well  adapted  to  fix 
them  in  the  mind,  and  render  them  influential  upon 
the  life  ? 

The  primary  reference  of  the  tabernacle  to  the  truths 
revealed  through  Moses,  in  distinction  from  those  after- 
ward to  be  made  known,  is  still  further  evident  from  the 
design  of  Mosaism  as  a  preparatory  dispensation.  The 
Hebrew  Scriptures  speak  of  a  new  covenant  to  be  estab- 
lished in  the  future  ;  and  the  apostle,  referring  to  that 
ancient  promise,  argues  that,  if  the  first  covenant  had 
been  faultless,  no  place  would  have  been  sought  for  the 
second.^  The  Mosaic  dispensation  was  established  not 
as  a  permanent  arrangement,  but  as  a  preparation  for 
Christianity,  —  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  the  Hebrews  to 
Christ.  The  chosen  people  were  not  only  to  be  educated 
to  the  capability  of  receiving  a  better  system  than  that 

1  Heb.  viii,  7. 


154  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

of  Moses,  but  his  system  was  itself  designed  to  be  a 
means  of  that  education.  Such  being  its  design,  we 
might  reasonably  infer  that  it  would  not  attempt  to  teach 
the  whole  truth  in  its  outward  ordinances,  but  only  some 
rudiments,  the  mastery  of  which  might  enable  its  pupils 
to  go  on  to  perfection.  The  preparatory  dispensation 
must  be  more  simple,  and  more  easy  of  comprehension, 
than  that  to  which  it  is  ancillary.  Such  it  was,  if  its  out- 
ward ordinances  had  primary  reference  to  the  kingdom  of 
God  in  that  stage  of  development  to  which  it  had  then 
arrived  ;  but  such  it  was  not,  if  they  had  no  other 
design  than  to  prefigure  the  work  of  Christ,  and  its 
results,  as  they  are  patent  in  our  day. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE   TABERNACLE   TYPIFIED   THE   TRUTHS   OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

In  maintaining  that  the  tabernacle  symbohzed  pri- 
marily the  truths  revealed  through  Moses,  we  have  not 
denied  that  it  had  also  some  designed  reference  to 
Christ  and  Christianity.  On  the  contrary,  we  have 
been  seeking  a  good  foundation  on  which  to  build  an 
argument  for  its  typical  significance.  The  author  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  so  clearly  affirms  that  the 
verities  of  the  new,  are  foreshadowed  in  the  outward 
ordinances  of  the  old  dispensation,  that  no  one  can 
gainsay  it  without  impeaching  the  authority  of  the  New 
Testament ;  but,  as  has  already  been  intimated,  there 
is  a  wide  difference  of  opinion  respecting  the  extent 
to  which  this  typical  relation  reaches,  or  can  be  known  to 
reach. 

In  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  theolo- 
gians were  disposed  to  regard  as  a  type  every  thing  in 
the  old  dispensation  which  seemed  to  resemble,  however 
slightly,  something  in  the  new.  By  this  mode  of  inter- 
pretation, types  were  multiplied  till  every  person,  event, 
and  institution,  antecedent  to  Christ,  had  its  counterpart 
in  him  ;  the  luxuriant  fancy  of  successive  typologists 
adding  to  the  catalogue,  till  at.  length  the  resemblances 


156  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

were  so  far-fetched  as  scarcely  to  justify  one  in  speak- 
ing of  the  earher  thing  as  an  allegory  of  the  later,  much 
less  in  believing  that  God  intended  the  first  simply  as  a 
representation  or  picture  for  our  instruction  in  regard  to 
the  second. 

The  easiest  and  probably  the  most  effectual  method 
of  illustrating  this  style  of  interpretation  is  to  give  an 
example  of  it.  This  we  propose  to  do  by  transferring 
to  these  pages,  from  the  treatise  of  Lund,  a  part  of 
his  interpretation  of  the  furniture  of  the  tabernacle. 
This  writer  is  selected  not  on  account  of  any  unusual 
exuberance  of  fancy,  but  because  the  scholarship  and 
common-sense  evinced  in  his  work  show  that  the  style  of 
typology  we  wish  to  illustrate  was  not  confined  to  men 
deficient  in  learning,  or  in  good  judgment  in  regard  to 
other  matters. 

Commencing  with  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  he  explains 
minutely  how  every  article  in  the  tabernacle  and  its  court 
prefigured  Christ.  For  the  sake  of  brevity,  we  shall 
follow  him  only  through'  the  holy  of  Jiolies^  and  shall 
omit  from  his  statement  all  that  is  superfluous.^ 

Of  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  he  says,  "  that  as  it  was 
made  of  wood,  and  covered  with  gold,  thus  consisting 
of  two  materials,  one  ordinary  and  the  other  exceed- 
ingly precious,  so  Christ  has  two  natures,  the  human 
and  the  divine,  the  former  represented  by.  the  wood,  and 
the  latter  by  the  gold  ;  which  two  natures,  however,  make 
only  one  Christ,  as  the  wood  and  the  gold,  one  ark. 
The  acacia  was  a  very  durable  wood,  not  liable  to  decay 
like  other  species  of  timber,  and  was  in  this  respect  a 
type  of  the  body  of  Christ,  which,  though  laid  in  the 

1  Book  I.  ch.  xxii. 


THE    TAB2  RiVACLE    TYPIFIED    CHRISTIANITY.    157 

grave,  was  not  suffered  to  see  corruption.  The  ark  had 
a  border  of  gold  around  its  lid  :  so  Christ  was  crowned 
with  glory  and  honor.  Within  the  ark  were  the  two 
tablets  of  the  law ;  and  Christ  says,  '  I  delight  to  do  thy 
will,  O  my  God  ;  yea,  thy  law  is  within  my  heart.'  Over 
the  ark  was  its  lid,  covering  the  tablets :  so  Christ 
covers  all  our  sins  which  we  have  committed  against 
the  law.  This  lid  was  called  the  mercy-seat,  because 
God  was  here  enthroned  above  his  covered  law  as  a  God 
of  mercy  ;  but  Christ  is  the  true  mercy-seat,  since  it  is 
through  him  that  God  is  reconciling  the  world  to  hini- 
self,  not  imputing  to  them  their  sins.  From  the  mercy- 
seat  God  communed  with  Moses  :  through  Christ  he 
communes  with  us.  The  ark,  with  the  mercy-seat  which 
covered  it,  was  the  place  where  God  dwelt :  in  Christ 
dwells  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead.  Over  the  ark 
were  two  cherubs,  turning  their  faces  toward  the  mercy- 
seat  as  if  in  wonder  and  delight :  so  the  angels  are  said 
to  study  with  interest  the  work  of  Christ  in  the  redemp- 
tion of  men.  The  ark  had  four  rings,  one  on  each  of  its 
corners,  by  means  of  which  it  was  carried  from  place  to 
place  as  the  people  journeyed  in  the  wilderness  :  so 
Christ  through  the  preaching  of  his  gospel  is  carried 
into  the  four  quarters  of  the  world.  When  the  ark  was 
borne  around  the  city  of  Jericho,  the  walls  fell  down,  and 
the  city  was  destroyed  :  Christ  appeared,  and  is  carried 
around  the  world,  through  the  preaching  of  the  gospel, 
that  he  may  destroy  the  works  of  the  Devil.  The  ark 
was  captured  by  the  Philistines,  and  came  into  the  hands 
of  the  Gentiles  :  so  Christ  was  captured  in  Gethsemane, 
and  delivered  to  the  Gentile  Pilate.  The  ark  was  not 
recaptured  by  the  children  of  Israel,  but  left  in  the 
14 


153  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

hands  of  the  PhiHstines :  so  his  disciples  left  Christ  in 
the  power  of  his  enemies  ;  they  forsook  him,  and  fled. 
Although  the  ark  was  captured,  yet  such  great  signs 
and  wonders  were  wrought  by  it  that  the  Philistines  were 
forced  to  confess  that  the  God  of  the  Israelites  was  more 
mighty  than  their  Dagon  :  so  Christ,  though  surrounded, 
captured,  and  bound  by  his  enemies,  still  gave  tokens  of 
the  almighty  power  which  inhered  in  him,  striking  to  the 
earth  by  the  mere  declaration  '  I  am  he,'  those  who  came 
to  arrest  him  ;  replacing  instantly  the  ear  of  Malchus, 
which  the  over-hasty  Peter  had  cut  off  ;  shaking  the 
earth,  and  darkening  the  heavens,  as  he  expired  on  the 
cross,  till  the  heathen  centurion  was  forced  to  exclaim, 
'  Truly  this  man  was  the  Son  of  God.'  Although  the 
ark  was  sometime  in  captivity,  the  Philistines  could  not 
hold  it,  but  were  obliged  against  their  will  to  let  it  go, 
and  to  send  it  back  with  presents  :  so  the  powers  of 
evil,  having  taken  Christ,  and  wrought  their  will  upon 
him  even  to  crucifixion  and  burial,  could  not  hold  him  in 
the  grave  ;  for  against  their  will  he  has  risen  from  the 
dead,  broken  their  bands,  and  triumphed  over  them  by 
means  of  the  very  cross  on  which  they  caused  him  to 
be  hung.  Toward  the  ark,  or  toward  the  place  where 
the  ark  was,  must  those  turn  themselves  who  wished  to 
be  heard  in  prayer ;  in  like  manner  must  we,  if  we 
wish  to  offer  acceptable  supplication,  turn  toward  the 
heavenly  ark  of  the  covenant,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  in  his  name  present  our  petitions. 

"  Not  only  was  the  ark  of  the  covenant  itself  a  type  of 
Christ,  but  there  were  two  additional  types  in  the  manna, 
and  the  rod  of  Aaron,  laid  up  near  it  for  preservation. 

"Concerning  the  first  of  these,  our    Saviour   himself 


THE    TABERNACLE    TYPIFIED   CHRISTIANITY.    159 

testified,  when  the  Jews  mentioned  the  manna  which 
their  fathers  ate  in  the  wilderness,  that  he  was  the  true 
bread  from  heaven.  As  the  manna  came  down  from 
heaven  to  earth,  so  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God 
became  man.  As  God  gave  the  manna  to  the  Israelites 
when  they  murmured  and  rebelled,  so  he  gave  his  Son 
to  die  for  us  while  we  were  sinners.  The  manna  fell  at 
night :  so  our  Lord  was  born  in  the  night.  The  manna 
was  the  food  of  the  children  of  Israel,  wherewith  they 
were  fed  in  the  wilderness  till  they  arrived  in  the 
promised  land :  Christ  is  the  food  of  his  people  in  the 
wilderness  of  this  world,  till  they  pass  the  Jordan,  and 
arrive  in  the  heavenly  Canaan.  The  manna  was  white, 
glistening,  and  in  its  roundness  of  a  perfect  form  :  so 
Christ  is  white,  that  is,  innocent  and  entirely  perfect. 
As  the  manna  was  much  bruised  in  mortars  and  mills,  so 
Christ  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  and  bruised 
for  our  iniquities.  The  manna  was  sweet  beyond  meas- 
ure, and  of  such  universal  adaptation  that  no  one  needed 
any  other  food  :  so  Christ  to  believers  is  sweeter  than 
honey,  and  suited  to  the  wants  of  all  in  all  circumstances. 
When  the  children  of  Israel  first  saw  manna,  they  did 
not  know  what  it  was,  and  needed  to  be  taught  how  to 
use  it :  so  by  nature  man  is  ignorant  of  Christ,  and 
needs  to  be  instructed  by  the  Spirit  how  to  feed  upon 
him.  The  manna  was  measured  out  to  the  Hebrews, 
an  omer  for  each  person :  so  faith  in  Christ  is  given 
according  as  God  deals  to  every  man  the  measure  of 
faith.  The  manna  was  given  daily  without  interruption  : 
so  Christ  is  with  his  people  always.  The  manna  was 
laid  up  for  a  memorial  near  the  ark  of  the  covenant :  so 
Christ  has  directed  that  we  should  eat  of  his  body,  and 


i6o  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

drink  of  his  blood,  in  the  memorial  supper.  Six  days  in 
the  week  they  must  gather  the  manna,  but  on  the 
sabbath  they  might  not  gather  it ;  but  it  was  already 
gathered,  God  having  given  them  a  double  portion  on 
the  preceding  day  :  so  must  we  here  in  this  world  seek 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  diligence  ;  but  in  the  sabbath 
of  a  blessed  eternity  we  need  not  seek  him  any  more, 
for  we  shall  have  him  without  painstaking,  according  to 
the  promise,  '  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat 
of  the  hidden  manna.' 

"  That  Aaron's  rod  was  a  type  of  Christ,  is  evident  from 
the  mode  in  which  the  prophecy,  '  There  shall  come 
forth  a  rod  out  of  the  stem  of  Jesse,  and  a  branch  shall 
grow  out  of  his  roots,'  was  fulfilled ;  the  royal  house  of 
David  having  declined  so  much  in  fortune  that  Joseph 
and  Mary  were  in  a  very  humble  condition  when  unex- 
pectedly the  promised  Son  of  David  appeared  like  the 
leaves,  ^  blossoms,  and  fruit  on  the  rod  of  Aaron.  As  the 
typical  rod  became  green  not  by  virtue  of  any  inward, 
hidden,  natural  moisture,  nor  through  the  co-operation 
of  the  sun  and  the  earth,  but  by  the  mere  fiat  of 
the  Almighty;  so  the  eternal  Son  of  God  became  man 
not  through  ordinary  generation,  but  by  the  immediate 
intervention  of  the  divine  power.  No  man  can  under- 
stand how  the  rod  of  Aaron  sprouted  and  grew ;  neither 
can  one  comprehend  the  mystery  of  the  birth  of  Christ, 
born  as  he  was  of  a  virgin.  The  miracle  of  the  blos- 
soming rod  was  wrought  in  the  night ;  and  in  the  night 
occurred  the  miraculous  birth  of  Christ.  There  were 
three  things  on  the  rod  of  Aaron,  after  the  miracle,  which 

1  The  English  version,  in  representing  the  rod  as  bringing  forth  buds,  falls  short 
of  the  Hebrew.     Leaves  would  also  be  more  congruous  with  the  fruit. 


THE    TABERNACLE    TYPIFIED   CHRISTIANITY.  i6i 

were  not  there  before,  —  leaves,  blossoms,  and  nuts, 
whereby  is  prefigured  the  threefold  work  of  Christ ;  the 
fruit  typifying  his  prophetic,  the  blossoms  his  sacerdotal, 
and  the  leaves  his  kingly  office.  For,  as  the  leaves  of  a 
tree  afford  grateful  shade  to  those  who  take  refuge  under 
it,  so  Christ  is  the  protector  of  them  who  acknowledge 
him  as  king  ;  as  the  flowers  of  the  almond-tree  are  of  a 
whitish  red  or  a  reddish  white,  combining  two  colors,  so 
is  also  Jesus  Christ  our  high-priest  white  in  respect  to 
his  innocence,  and  red  in  respect  to  his  blood  that  was 
poured  out  for  our  sins  ;  and,  as  the  exquisite  kernel  of 
the  almond  lies  hidden  under  its  bitter  rind  and  hard 
shell,  so  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  to  the  flesh  bitter  and 
harsh,  and  by  many  regarded  as  a  hard  saying,  is  to  a 
spiritual  man,  who  penetrates  to  the  kernel  of  the  nut, 
very  sweet  and  pleasant.  When  the  rod  of  Aaron  had 
been  sufficiently  seen  by  the  children  of  Israel,  it  was 
again  laid  up  in  the  Jioly  of  holies  before  the  Lord :  so 
Christ  its  antitype,  having  been  changed  by  his  resurrec- 
tion from  the  dryness  of  death  into  the  vigor  and  beauty 
of  life,  was  seen  by  his  disciples  for  a  sufficient  time, 
and  then  received  up  into  heaven  to  appear  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God  for  us." 

We  are  confident  that  the  condensed  statement  here 
given  of  the  typology  of  this  author  does  not  exaggerate 
or  even  fully  exhibit  the  excursiveness  of  his  fancy.  In 
the  abridgment  of  his  paragraphs  to  sentences,  some 
plumes  have  fallen  from  the  wings  of  his  imagination. 
His  interpretation  of  the  significance  of  the  furniture 
of  the  holy  of  holies  is  presented  as  a  sample  of  the 
lawless  typology  not  of  this  writer  only,  but  of  theo- 
logians generally,  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
14* 


1 62  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

centuries.  Wherever  they  found  any  point  of  resem- 
blance between  something  in  the  old  and  something  in 
the  new  dispensation,  they  called  one  a  type,  and  the 
other  its  antitype,  even  when  the  resemblance  was  so  far 
removed  from  the  ordinary  paths  of  thought  as  to  excite 
surprise,  and  move  to  laughter. 

A  reaction  necessarily  resulted  from  the  excesses  of 
this  school  of  interpretation.  The  resemblances  to 
which  it  called  attention  were  in  many  cases  so  recon- 
dite and  so  odd  as  to  forbid  the  supposition  that  God  in 
his  wisdom  had  established  them  as  a  means  of  repre- 
senting the  truths  of  his  gospel.  They  seemed  to 
furnish  a  better  basis  for  riddles  and  conundrums  than 
for  divinely  appointed  types. 

Popular  opinion  in  its  reaction  from  error  often  goes 
to  the  opposite  extreme ;  and  so  in  this  case  it  oscillated 
from  an  excessive  typology,  to  the  disposition  to  ignore 
all  types  not  expressly  recognized  as  such  by  the 
inspired  writers,  and  even  to  maintain  that  the  old  dis- 
pensation did  not  prefigure  the  new,  further  than  its 
typical  relation  had  been  expressly  declared  and  unfolded 
in  the  New  Testament. 

This  reaction  has  not  yet  spent  itself;  for  in  the  theo- 
logical literature  of  the  nineteenth  century  there  is 
almost  no  mention  of  any  other  types  than  those  alluded 
to  above  as  indorsed  by  the  pen  of  inspiration  ;  and 
many  eminent  theologians  not  only  ignore  all  others,  but 
maintain  that  it  was  never  intended  that  there  should  be 
prefigurative  significance  in  the  old  dispensation  beyond 
what  is  particularly  indicated  and  interpreted  in  the 
Scriptures. 

There  is  reason,  however,  to  expect  another  turn  in 


THE    TABERNACLE    TYPIFIED   CHRISTIANITY.  163 

the  movement  of  public  opinion,  if,  indeed,  the  change 
has  not  already  begun.  Let  it  be  granted  that  the 
tabernacle  symbolized  Mosaism,  and  it  follows,  as  a 
necessary  consequence,  that  it  prefigured  Christianity ; 
for  Christianity  was  so  infolded  in  Mosaism,  that  the 
symbols  of  the  earlier  were  also  types  of  the  later 
dispensation.  The  nineteenth  century  rightly  rejects  the 
redundance  and  lawlessness  of  the  typology  it  found  in 
vogue,  but  has  been  wrong  in  requiring  a  biblical  warrant 
for  every  particular  type. 

The  writers  of  the  New  Testament  did  not  undertake 
to  make  an  exhaustive  catalogue  of  things  in  the  old  dis- 
pensation which  by  divine  appointment  foreshadowed 
the  work  of  Christ,  but  selected  whatever  they  had 
occasion  to  make  use  of,  and  introduced  it  into  their 
discourses  and  epistles,  not  for  the  sake  of  informing 
us  what  were  types,  and  what  were  not,  but  with  the 
intent  of  exhibiting  more  clearly,  by  means  of  pictures 
divinely  prepared  for  the  purpose,  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus.  They  saw  that  the  system  of  Moses  was  iden- 
tical with  Christianity  in  its  root,  and  different  only  in 
the  degree  of  development :  consequently  they  regarded 
the  symbols  of  the  earlier  as  also  prophetic  symbols 
of  the  later  and  more  glorious  dispensation  they  were 
commissioned  to  announce  and  promulgate. 

Truth  dwells  neither  in  the  childish  fancies  of  the 
ancient  typologists,  nor  in  the  scepticism  and  infidelity 
of  later  times,  but  in  a  rational  typology  founded  in 
nature,  and  regulated  by  laws  almost  as  definite,  inflexi- 
ble, and  ascertainable  as  the  laws  of  language.  The 
tabernacle  is  significant  of  the  truths  of  Christianity, 
but  yields  its   import   not  to  that  faculty  of  the  mind 


1 64  SIGNIFICANCE   OF   THE    TABERNACLE. 

which  discovers  a  human  profile  in  the  ragged  edge  of  a 
distant  precipice,  but  to  Ihat  other  and  more  prosaic  fac- 
ulty which  climbs  the  mountain,  and  by  close  inspection 
and  tactual  examination  learns  to  conceive  of  it  just  as 
it  is  in  reality.  The  "  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain "  is  a 
fiction  of  the  fancy  ;  but  there  is  nevertheless  a  true 
"  testimony  of  the  rocks,"  which  sober  science  may 
decipher. 

The  outward  institutions  of  Moses  were  throughout 
typical  of  Christianity,  because  they  were  symbols  of  an 
existing  religious  system  which  infolded  in  itself  that  of 
Christ  as  the  sapling  contains  the  tree,  and  as  "  the  child 
is  father  of  the  man." 

That  the  institutions  established  by  Moses  were  sym- 
bols of  the  ideas  he  was  commissioned  to  communicate, 
is,  we  think,  already  evident  from  the  considerations 
advanced  in  the  last  chapter  ;  so  that  it  only  remains  to 
show  that  Christianity  is  essentially  the  same  with 
Mosaism,  differing  merely  in  the  further  development  of 
ideas  common  to  both. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Jehovah  revealed  himself 
to  the  Hebrews  in  his  unity,  personality,  and  holiness. 
Are  not  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament,  in  regard 
to  God,  coincident  with  those  of  the  Old.''  He  has, 
indeed,  revealed  more  of  his  glory  under  the  new  than 
under  the  old  dispensation.  There  was  gradual  progress 
from  Moses  to  Malachi ;  but,  at  the  advent  of  the  long- 
promised  Messiah,  the  germ  unfolded  itself  as  the  bud 
of  a  century-plant  bursts  into  a  flower.  It  is  the  same 
God  who  spoke  to  the  Hebrews  by  Moses,  and  to  all 
men  by  his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  the  same  idea  of 
,God  which  we  find  in  the  teachings  of  Moses,  and  in  the 
pages  of  the  New  Testament. 


THE   TABERNACLE    TYPIFIED   CHRISTIANITY.  165 

One  of  the  principal  features  of  the  religion  which 
Moses  gave  to  the  Hebrews  was  the  covenant  between 
them  and  their  God.  It  was,  as  has  been  already  men- 
tioned, essentially  the  same  as  the  covenant  which  God 
made  wifh  Abraham  ;  differing  from  it  mainly  in  the 
addition  of  the  ceremonial  law,  which,  as  the  Apostle 
Paul  declares,  was  added  "  because  of  transgressions," 
that  is,  for  the  discipline  of  the  people  into  more  exact- 
ness of  life,  and  sensitiveness  of  conscience.  The  Abra- 
hamic  covenant  did  not  become  void  at  the  institution 
of  the  ceremonial  law  at  Sinai,  nor  yet  at  the  advent  of 
Christ,  but  is  still  in  force,  as  the  apostle  just  mentioned 
argues  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Galatians.  The  covenant, 
though  modified  in  its  forms  by  the  settlement  of  the 
Hebrews  in  the  promised  land,  and  afterward  by  the 
establishment  of  the  promised  Seed  of  Abraham  on  his 
throne  of  universal  and  eternal  dominion,  is  essentially 
one  and  the  same  in  all  ages.  Canaan  was  promised  to 
Abraham,  but  not  Canaan  alone :  he  looked  for  another, 
a  better,  even  a  heavenly  country.  He  desired  to  see  the 
day  of  his  illustrious  descendant :  he  saw  it,  and  was 
glad.  The  New  Testament  is  preferable  to  the  Law 
given  by  Moses,  because  unencumbered  with  a  burden- 
some ritual  ;  nevertheless,  along  with  that  burdensome 
ritual,  yes,  and  by  means  of  it,  the  gospel  of  forgiveness 
was  preached.  Both  proclaim  that  without  shedding  of 
blood  there  is  no  remission  ;  and  each  provides  its  sacri- 
fice for  sin.  The  conditions  of  forgiveness  are  also  the 
same,  propitiation  being  provided  only  for  the  contrite. 

Mosaism  and  Christianity  being,  then,  one  and  the 
same  in  their  fundamental  ideas,  it  follows  that  any 
system     of    institutions    which    would    fitly   symbolize 


/ 


1 65  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

one  would  be  appropriate  to  the  other.  Where  the  two 
dispensations  differed,  the  symbols  would  doubtless  con- 
form to  that  which  was  already  in  existence ;  but  even 
so,  ideas  which  are  especially  characteristic  of  the  later 
dispensation  might  be  represented,  being  contained  rudi- 
mentally  in  the  earlier,  as  there  are  rudiments  in  the 
lower  animals  of  organs  which  in  their  perfect  develop- 
ment are  peculiar  to  higher  families. 

The  tabernacle,  being  constructed  to  symbolize  pri- 
marily the  ideas  of  the  Mosaic  system,  also  typified 
Christianity  so  far  as  the  two  were  identical  in  their 
teachings ;  and,  in  addition,  typified  much  that  is  pecu-  I 
liar  to  Christianity,  by  means  of  the  hints  of  good  things 
to  come,  involved  in  the  ideas  represented.  It  symbol- 
ized the  forgiveness  of  sins  ;  it  typified  the  Lamb  of  God 
which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world. 


I 


CHAPTER   IV. 

MEANS    OF    INTERPRETATION. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  the  hiero- 
glyphics of  Egypt  were  known  to  be  significant,  but  no 
living  man  was  able  to  read  them.  The  discover}*  of  the 
Rosetta  stone,  with  its  polyglot  inscription,  excited  hope 
that  it  might  prove  a  key  to  the  records  of  a  people  of 
remote  antiquity,  intimately  connected  with  the  nation 
which  transmitted  to  us  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God. 
That  hope  was  fulfilled.  The  glyphs  in  a  cartouch,  sup- 
posed to  correspond  with  the  name  of  Ptolemy  in  the 
Greek  translation,  were  found  to  be  identical  with  those 
which  represented  a  name  in  another  inscription  dis- 
covered about  the.  same  time,  and  accompanied  by  a 
Greek  translation.  Fortunately,  in  this  last  case,  the 
name  of  Cleopatra  followed  that  of  Ptolemy ;  so  that,  by  a 
comparison  of  the  letters  common  to  both,  the  correct- 
ness of  the  conclusions  already  reached  was  confirmed, 
and  further  progress  was  made  toward  an  alphabet.  By 
degrees,  other  means  of  interpretation  were  found  ;  and 
these  ancient  records  became  again  intelligible. 

Having  reason  to  believe  that  the  tabernacle  was 
designed  to  symbolize  the  truths  which  Moses  was  com- 
missioned to  teach,  may  we  not  hope  to  find  some  key 
which  shall  unlock  its  significance  .''     If  its  true  import 

167 


1 68  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

has  given  place  to  false  interpretations,  is  it  not  possible 
to  re-establish  the  truth  ? 

Happily,  there  are  means  of  interpretation  by  the  aid 
of  which  one  may  decipher  the  symbols  of  the  Hebrews 
as  correctly  as  Champollion  deciphered  the  hieroglyphics 
of  Egypt ;  and  the  purpose  of  •  the  present  chapter  is  to 
point  out  and  tabulate  them  for  future  use. 

I.  First  in  the  table  may  be  placed  the  parallelism 
between  the  Mosaic  system,  as  otherwise  ascertained, 
and  its  symbolic  representation. 

The  tabernacle  symbolized  the  truths  which  Moses 
was  directed  to  inculcate  on  the  Israelites.  Some  of 
them,  doubtless,  were  communicated  solely  by  means  of 
symbols  ;  but  many  are  recorded  in  the  Pentateuch  in 
language  which  we  can  read  and  understand.  The  writ- 
ings of  Moses,  therefore,  like  the  Greek  translation  of 
the  Rosetta  stone,  give  a  clew  to  the  meaning  of  what 
otherwise  might  be  illegible.  The  other  books  of  the 
Old  Testament  also  record  in  written  language  many  of 
the  ideas  represented  in  the  symbolic  institutions ;  so 
that  the  whole  volume  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  offers 
help  to  the  interpreter. 

By  means  of  this  parallelism  we  learn  that  the  taber- 
nacle as  a  whole  exhibited  spiritual  transactions  between 
the  Hebrews  and  their  covenant  God.  It  represented 
his  habitation  among  them,  his  presence  as  a  defence, 
his  reception  of  their  persons  and  gifts  so  long  as  they 
were  observant  of  his  ordinances  and  obedient  to  his 
commands,  his  readiness  to  forgive  the  penitent  sinner, 
and  his  utter  rejection  of  the  persistently  disobedient. 

It  being  granted  that  such  a  parallelism  exists,  we  can 


MEANS  OF  INTERPRETATION.    \  -169 

ascertain  by  means  of  it  not  only  the  general  signifi- 
cance of  the  whole  system  of  symbols,  but  the  meaning 
of  many  particular  parts.  For  example :  when  we  look 
at  the  ritual  of  the  sin-offering,  —  when  we  see  an  animal 
brought  into  the  court  of  the  tabernacle,  the  person  who 
brings.it  laying  his  hand  on  its  head,  and  then  slaying 
it,  the  priest  taking  some  of  its  blood  with  his  finger, 
putting  it  on  the  horns  of  the  altar,  pouring  out  the 
remainder  at  the  base  of  the  altar,  burning  the  fat  as  a 
sweet  savor  to  Jehovah,  and  with  his  companions  in  the 
consecrated  priesthood  eating  the  flesh  of  the  sacrifice 
within  the  precincts  of  the  holy  edifice,  —  we  are  not  left 
wholly  to  the  spectacle  itself  for  its  interpretation.  The 
Hebrew  Scriptures  as  a  whole,  and  especially  the  writ- 
ings of  Moses,  afford  assistance  to  one  who  wishes  to 
know  the  meaning  of  such  a  transaction.  The  verbal 
definition  itself  to  some  extent  explains  it.  It  is  a  sin- 
offering,  a  sacrifice  for  sin.  This  brief  and  summary 
explanation  may  be  amplified  by  collecting  the  passages 
of  Scripture  which  relate  either  to  the  sin-offering  itself, 
or  to  sin  as  a  transgression  of  law. 

The  establishment  in  the  mind  of  one  point  of  coin- 
cidence between  the  scenic  and  the  written  revelation 
leads  on  to  the  determination  of  a  second.  For  example  : 
when  one  has  well  studied  the  sin-offering,  and  learned 
its  significance,  he  is  better  prepared  to  appreciate  the 
part  which  the  priest  acts  in  the  presentation  of  it.  He 
receives  the  idea  of  mediation  as  represented  in  the 
scene  he  has  been  witnessing,  and,  having  received  it, 
finds  many  passages  in  the  various  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  which  throw  additional  light  upon  the  office 
of  the  priesthood. 
15 


I70-  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

As  one  discovers  more  and  more  points  of  resem- 
blance, in  a  good  portrait,  to  the  pei  son  whom  it  portrays, 
so  may  he  in  the  symbols  of  the  Hebrews  find  more  and 
more  of  what  is  written  in  their  Scriptures.  Being  at 
last  well  convinced  that  a  portrait  is  true  to  its  original, 
one  may  learn  to  trust  it  in  respect  to  features,  which 
have  faded  from  his  memory ;  likewise,  by  diligent  study 
of  the  institutions  of  Moses,  one  may  acquire  some  ideas 
not  verbally  presented  either  by  him  or  by  subsequent 
writers  of  the  Old  Testament,  or  at  least  not  noticed 
till  the  student  had  found  them  in  the  revelation  by 
symbols.  But  all  such  interpretation  must  proceed  in 
accordance  with  the  rule  that  the  institutions  of  Moses 
are  parallel  with  what  he  has  communicated  with  his 
pen,  and  must  find  in  the  pictorial  revelation  either  the 
same  ideas  as  in  the  verbal,  or  else  such  as  are  accordant 
and  complementary. 

II.  Another  key  of  interpretation  is  found  in  the 
Scriptural  explanation  of  symbols. 

Moses  himself  has  attached  to  his  pictm^es  no 
exegetical  clavis :  he  doubtless  regarded  them  as  suf- 
ficiently intelligible  without  such  an  affix.  He  did  not 
call  the  sin-offering  by  that  appellation  in  order  to  explain 
the  symbol,  but  made  use  of  the  word  incidentally  in 
prescribing  the  ceremonies  in  which  the  symbol  was  to 
consist.  There  was  no  need  in  his  day  to  translate  the 
language  of  signs  into  written  discourse ;  for  the  former 
was  more  easily  understood  than  the  latter.  But,  as  we 
have  heretofore  had  occasion  to  remark,  there  was  need, 
in  the  time  of  the  New-Testament  writers,  that  symbolic 
language  should  sometimes  be  accompanied  with  expla- 
nation ;  and  accordingly  they  have  in  a  few  instances 


MEANS  OF  INTERPRETATION.  171 

attached  definitions  to  symbols.  If,  as  there  is  no 
reason  to  doubt,  these  definitions  are  vahd  for  the  Old 
Testament,  as  well  as  for  the  New,  every  one  of  them  is 
a  key  to  some  part  of  the  edifice  we  would  explore. 

For  example :  incense  is  explained  in  the  Apocalypse 
as  symbolizing  the  prayers  of  the  holy.^  With  less 
clearness  the  same  meaning  is  suggested  in  the  Gospel 
of  Luke,  where  the  people  are  said  to  have  been  engaged 
in  prayer  while  Zacharias  was  burning  incense  within 
the  temple,  ^  and  even  in  the  Book  of  Psalms,  where 
David  says,  "  Let  my  prayer  be  set  forth  before  thee  as 
incense."  ^ 

With  this  definition  of  incense  we  discover  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  sweet  odors  daily  ascending  from  both 
altars  of  the  tabernacle,  and  sometimes  carried  even 
into  the  Jioly  of  holies,  as  well  as  of  the  censers  and  the 
golden  altar. 

For  another  example :  the  fine  linen  of  which  the 
innermost  curtain  of  the  tabernacle,  and  the  robes  of  the 
priests,  were  made,  is  explained  in  the  Apocalypse  as 
meaning,  when  used  for  garments,  that  those  thus 
arrayed  were  holy.  "  The  fine  linen  is  the  righteous- 
ness of  saints."  ^  We  are  thus  guided  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  fine  linen  which  the  Hebrews  called  sliesh  was 
significant  of  purity ;  or,  rather,  we  are  confirmed  in  the 
opinion  to  which  we  might  perhaps  have  been  brought 
independently  of  such  guidance  by  the  suggestions  of  a 
symbolism  founded  in  nature,  and  everywhere  prevalent. 

III.  The  design  of  the  tabernacle  as  declared  in  the 
directions  for  its  construction,  equipment,  and  services, 
is  a  key  to  its  significance. 

1  Rev.  V.  8,  viii.  3.        2  Luke  i.  10.        8  Ps.  cxli.  2.        *  Rev.  xix.  8. 


172  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

After  specifying  the  materials  of  which  it  was  to  be 
made,  Jehovah  said,  "  Let  them  make  me  a  sanctuary ; 
that  I  may  dwell  among  them.  According  to  all  that 
I  show  thee,  after  the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle,  and  the 
pattern  of  all  the  instruments  thereof,  even  so  shall  ye 
make  it."  ^  If  the  edifice  was  a  symbol,  it  signified  that 
Jehovah  dwelt  among  the  Israelites.  This  sanctuary 
constructed  for  the  purpose,  and  according  to  his  own 
directions,  was  his  habitation  to  which  the  people  might 
resort,  entering  the  court  in  person,  and  admitted, 
through  their  representatives  the  priests,  within  the 
habitation  itself.  Here  he  dwelt  among  them  as  their 
God  who  had  brought  them  out  of  Egypt,  and  by  so 
doing  given  pledge  of  whatever  further  deliverance  and 
help  they  might  need.  Here  was  the  appointed  place  of 
meeting  between  him  and  them,  where  he  would  answer 
those  who  came  to  make  inquiries,  receive  the  offerings 
of  those  who  brought  gifts,  and  bestow  tokens  of  recon- 
ciliation on  those  whose  consciences  accused  them  of 
transgression  or  neglect.  It  was  his  habitation,  and  yet 
not  in  the  same  sense  in  which  a  man's  house  is  his 
home ;  for  the  Hebrews  well  knew  that  Jehovah  was  an 
invisible  and  omnipresent  spirit,  who  could  not  be  con- 
fined to  any  one  place.  Says  Solomon  at  the  dedication 
of  the  temple,  "  Will  God  in  vejy  deed  dwell  with  men 
on  the  earth }  Behold,  heaven  and  the  heaven  of 
heavens  cannot  contain  thee  ;  how  much  less  this  house 
which  I  have  built !  "  ^  The  tabernacle  was  not  in  very 
deed,  but  only  in  symbol,  the  dwelling-place  of  Jehovah. 
It  represented  his  true  habitation,  wherever  and  of 
whatever  nature  it  may  be,  and  the  spiritual  intercourse 

1  Exod.  XXV.  8,  9.  2  2  Chron.  vi.  18. 


MEANS  OF  interpretation:  173 

subsisting  between  him  and  those  who  worship  him  in 
spirit  and  in  truth. 

Constructed  to  serve  as  a  habitation  for  their  covenant 
God  in  the  midst  of  the  Hebrews,  it  was  equipped  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  provide  for  ministrations  expressive 
if  not  naturally,  certainly  by  general  usage,  of  atone- 
ment, restoration  to  favor,  assurance  of  reconciliation 
and  acceptable  service  ;  and  was  thus  both  a  sign  and 
a  seal  of  the  covenant  relation,  and  of  the  presence  of 
Jehovah  in  the  midst  of  his  people 

The  design  of  the  tabernacle  comes  still  more  dis- 
tinctly to  view  as  one  proceeds  from  the  consideration 
of  the  directions  for  its  construction  and  equipment,  to 
the  ordinances  concerning  its  ritual.  Its  ministrations, 
as  established  by  the  divine  command,  speak  a  natural 
language,  which  in  its  general  significance  is  easily 
understood,  whatever  difficulties  may  gather  around 
particular  parts,  resulting  from  the  difference  of  manners 
and  customs  between  our  age  and  that  of  Moses.  In 
view  of  the  constancy  and  variety  of  significant  cere- 
monies required,  whatever  their  significance  may  be,  it 
appears  that  God  did  not  dwell  among  them  in  idleness, 
but  was  at  all  times  observant  and  active.  The  taber- 
nacle was  not  only  literally  "  in  the  midst  of  the  camp," 
but  was  figuratively  the  centre  of  activity,  the  source 
of  authority,  the  throne  to  which  allegiance  was  ren- 
dered. 

It  being,  then,  assumed  that  the  tabernacle  was  the 
habitation  in  which  Jehovah  dwelt  among  the  Hebrews 
as  their  God,  to  interchange  in  symbol  such  communica- 
tions as  are  appropriate  between  God  and  man,  many  of 
these  transactions  exhibit  their  significance  immediately 
15* 


174  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

even  to  one  who  looks  at  them  from  the  stand-point  cf  the 
present  age  and  the  modern  civilization,  and,  by  thus 
bringing  into  more  distinct  view  the  import  of  the  whole 
symbolic  apparatus  to  which  they  appertained,  assist  in 
the  interpretation  of  those  parts  which  are  more  obscure. 

IV.  The  Scriptural  appellations  of  the  tabernacle  are 
a  means  of  interpretation. 

The  name  of  a  thing  is  often  expressive  of  its  nature  ; 
and  this  was  true  to  a  greater  extent  among  the  Hebrews 
than  with  us,  because  in  that  early  age  the  meaning  had 
not  fallen  out  of  words  so  much  as  now,  neither 
had  they  imported  so  many  foreign  words  into  their 
language.  Something  may  doubtless  be  learned  of  the 
significance  of  the  symbolic  edifice  erected  at  Sinai  from 
a  critical  examination  of  such  Hebrew  words  as  are 
translated  tabernacle,  tent,  Jioitse,  tabernacle  of  the 
testimony,  tent  of  the  congregation,  sanctuary,  and  holy 
place.  The  word  mishcan,  rendered  tabernacle,  for 
example,  is  derived  from  shacan,  to  dwell ;  so  that  its 
etymology  points,  concurrently  with  the  declaration  of 
the  design  of  the  edifice,  to  the  idea  of  a  dwelling-place, 
or  habitation. 

V.  The  symbolism  of  nature  is  an  important  means 
of  interpretation. 

That  there  is  a  correspondence  more  or  less  extensive 
between  the  visible  world  and  the  realm  of  ideas,  has 
occurred,  doubtless,  to  every  one,  though  it  more 
distinctly  and  extensively  reveals  itself  to  persons  of 
deepest  intuition.  The  universe  is  not  an  aimless  product 
of  power,  but  a  revelation  of  the  Creator.  It  is  a  commu- 
nication of  his  thought  as  writing,  painting,  and  sculpture 
are  of   the  thoughts  of  men  ;  so  that,  if  we  could  but 


MEANS  OF  INTERPRETATION.  175 

interpret  its  import,  every  thing  he  has  made  would  be 
suggestive  of  ideas  which,  being  already  in  God's  mind, 
he  would  impart  to  us. 

The  Hebrews  in  the  time  of  Moses  were  at  that  stage 
of  development  w^hen  men  most  appreciate  this  symbol- 
ism of  nature.  In  modern  society,  the  reasoning  faculty 
is  much  more  used  than  the  intuitive  ;  and,  in  the  adult, 
the  former  has  generally  outgrown  and  overgrown  the 
latter.  It  is  only  the  few,  like  Shakspeare,  Bunyan, 
Wordsworth,  or  the  poet  that  puts  into  the  mouth  of  an 
angel  the  suggestion,  — 

"What  if  earth 
Be  but  the  shadow  of  heaven  and  things  therein, 
Each  to  other  like,  more  than  on  earth  is  thought,"  — 

who  are  able  to  any  great  extent  to  see  in  nature  the 
supernatural  to  which  it  corresponds ;  the  majority 
having  so  put  asunder,  in  their  habits  of  thought,  what 
God  in  his  eternal  purpose  has  joined  together,  that  they 
see  only  an  inanimate  form  in  that  which  has  spirit  and 
life.  In  consequence  of  this  divorce  between  the  natural 
and  the  supernatural  in  the  minds  of  men,  it  results 
that  processes  of  thought  are  carried  on  and  concluded 
without  any  association  of  the  ideas  which  have  occupied 
the  mind  with  their  corresponding  images  in  the  under 
world  of  sense.  The  scholar  is  ambitious  to  be  inde- 
pendent of  the  signs  of  ideas,  that  they  may  not  mislead 
him,  and  to  deal  with  the  ideas  themselves.  At  last  he 
disconnects  not  only  his  thoughts  from  the  physical 
world,  but  his  feelings  as  well,  forbearing  outward  expres- 
sion, and  becoming  habitually  and  characteristically 
undemonstrative. 


176  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

But  in  childhood,  whether  it  be  of  the  race  or  of  an 
individual,  the  faculty  of  insight  is  relatively  stronger 
than  at  a  later  stage  of  growth,  and  the  exercise  of  it  in 
connecting  correspondent  things  in  the  two  worlds  with 
which  man  is  conversant,  each  with  its  like,  affords  great 
pleasure. 

*'  Heaven  lies  about  us  in  our  infancy  ! 
Shades  of  the  prison-house  begin  to  close 

Upon  the  growing  boy  ; 
But  he  beholds  the  hght,  and  whence  it  flows  ; 

He  sees  it  in  his  joy. 
The  youth,  who  daily  farther  from  the  east 

Must  travel,  still  is  Nature's  priest, 

And  by  the  vision  splendid 

Is  on  his  way  attended." 

The  child  takes  delight  in  seeing  whatever  ideas 
pertaining  to  the  world  of  spirit  he  may  have  floating 
indistinctly  before  his  mind's  eye  reduced  to  shape,  and 
invested  with  bodies,  so  as  to  appeal  to  his  senses  like 
the  phenomena  of  the  world  of  matter  with  which  he  is 
familiar ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  is  pleased  to  discover 
that  nature  points  to  something  higher  than  itself. 

The  Hebrews,  living  in  the  childhood  of  humanity, 
were  in  that  stage  of  development  when  men  most 
delight  in  the  symbolism  of  nature.  We  find  them 
making  much  use  of  it,  not  only  at  the  time  of  the 
exodus,  but  during  the  whole  period  of  their  history,, 
from  the  calling  of  Abraham  to  the  advent  of  our  Lord. 
They  were  as  eager  to  clothe  all  truths  in  physical 
drapery  as  a  modern  philosopher  is  to  see  them  in  their 
metaphysical  nakedness.     When  they  would  assert  the 


MEANS  OF  INTERPRETATION.  177 

omnipresence  of  God,  they  did  so  in  the  words,  "  The 
eyes  of  the  Lord  are  in  every  place  ;  "  if  they  presented 
a  prayer,  they  commenced  by  saying,  "  Bow  down  thine 
ear  ; "  when  they  meant  that  he  had  exerted  his  power, 
they  spoke  of  the  stretching-out  of  his  arm.  They  were 
as  well  aware  as  any  modern  theologian  that  Jehovah 
had  no  eyes,  ears,  or  arms ;  but  called  these  natural 
symbols  to  aid  in  conceiving  of  God. 

This  symbolism,  being  founded  in  nature,  is  intelligible 
in  some  measure  to  all  men.  We  can  comprehend  it 
when  used  by  the  Hebrews,  even  if  our  intellectual  bent 
is,  both  by  inheritance  and  education,  in  a  different 
direction.  So  far  as  it  has  been  employed  in  the  taber- 
nacle, it  yields  its  import  either  instantly  and  easily,  or 
certainly,  as  the  reward  of  investigation.  White,  for 
example,  is  a  natural  symbol  of  purity,  the  correspond- 
ence between  the  real  and  the  ideal  being,  in  this  case, 
so  evident  that  every  one  sees  it  as  soon  as  proposed ; 
while  a  like  proposal  to  represent  purity  of  heart  or 
of  life  by  black  or  red,  would  be  as  speedily  and  as 
unanimously  rejected.  Consequently,  even  without  the 
explanation  given  in  the  Apocalypse  of  the  significance 
of  the  garments  of  byssos,  or  as  the  Hebrews  called  it, 
shesJi,  we  should  at  once  suspect  that  wherever  this  fine 
linen  is  found,  whether  in  curtains  or  in  garments,  it  is 
a  symbol  of  holiness.  So  far  as  the  symbolism  of  the 
tabernacle  is  founded  in  nature,  we  can  with  painstaking 
ascertain  its  import,  even  though  we  are  not  able  to  see 
it  so  quickly  as  they  for  whose  immediate  benefit  the 
institution  was  designed. 

VI.  Another  means  of  interpretation  is  the  artificial 
symbolism  of  the  ancients. 


178  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

It  would  not  be  surprising  if  a  people  fond  of  symbols 
should  enlarge  its  vocabulary  (if  that  appellation  may  be 
applied  to  this  kind  of  language)  by  going  beyond  the 
domain  of  nature  into  that  of  art.  The  transition  is  easy 
from  the  representation  of  ideas  by  signs  instinctively 
and  universally  understood,  to  the  employment  of  signs 
whose  significance  depends  on  wide  though  not  universal 
usage,  on  conventional  in  distinction  from  natural  corre- 
spondence. Kings  wear  crowns,  and  sit  on  thrones  ;  and 
so  crowns  and  thrones  indicate  royalty  by  a  symbolism 
founded  not  in  nature,  but  in  the  customs  of  society. 
Among  the  ancients,  purple  was  worn  by  those  in 
authority,  and  so  became  the  badge  of  power  and  dis- 
tinction. 

The  diligent  student  of  etymology  will  find  that  this 
kind  of  symbolism  has  deeply  tinged  the  thoughts  of 
men  in  all  past  ages,  and  left  its  marks  on  the  language 
we  every  day  make  use  of  ;  marks  unseen  by  the  careless, 
and  sometimes  undiscovered  even  by  the  astute.  But 
the  same  disposition  which  has  moved  poets  and  orators 
to  represent  ideas  by  material  things  conventionally 
connected  with  them,  led  to  the  use,  among  the  ancients, 
of  symbols  of  the  same  class  for  the  purpose  of  religious 
instruction  and  inculcation.  Indeed,  their  mode  of 
representing  ideas  of  religion  wholly  by  tableaux,  had 
stronger  inducements  to  the  multiplication  of  images  than 
those  felt  by  the  poet  and  the  orator ;  and  consequently 
symbolism  among  the  ancients  extended  itself  further, 
beyond  the  domain  of  nature.  To  the  system  of  repre- 
sentation in  which  there  is  a  natural  correspondence 
between  the  real  and  the  ideal,  or  at  least  a  connection 
established  by  extensive  usage,  there  were  added  repre- 


MEANS  OF  INTERPRETATION.  179 

sentative  signs  whose  connection  with  their  constituents 
is  obscure,  and  in  many  cases  seems  to  the  uninitiated  to 
have  been  arbitrarily  instituted.  Doubtless  there  was, 
however,  in  every  case,  to  the  mind  of  the  person  who 
first  brought  into  use  any  representative  sign,  some 
connection  apparent  between  it  and  the  thing  signified, 
even  though  it  cannot  now  be  discovered. 

Artificial  symbolism,  resembling  that  of  the  Hebrews, 
was  in  use  among  all  the  principal  nations  of  antiquity. 

The  temples  of  the  Hindoos,  the  Chinese,  the  Chal- 
deans, and  the  Egyptians,  were  built  with  an  adherence 
to  certain  forms,  proportions,  and  repetitions,  which 
leaves  no  room  for  doubt  that  their  sacred  architecture 
was  significant,  and  that  with  some  difference  in  the 
ideas  expressed,  and  some  variety  in  the  mode  of 
expressing  the  same  ideas,  they  employed  the  relations 
of  geometry  and  arithmetic  to  represent  the  objects  of 
their  religious  thought. 

Color  also  was  employed  for  the  same  purpose.  In 
the  worship  of  the  Egyptians,  red,  white,  and  black, 
appear  as  emblems  ;  ^  and,  in  the  astrological  religion  of 
the  Chaldeans,  each  of  the  seven  planets  had  its  repre- 
sentative color.2 

The  three  kingdoms  of  nature  —  the  animal,  the  vege- 
table, and  the  mineral  —  were  also  made  to  subserve  this 
artificial  symbolism. 

The  animal  forms  most  frequently  occurring  were 
those  of  the  ox,  the  eagle,  the  lion,  and  man.  These 
were  sometimes  combined  in  one  to  represent  the  union 

1  Plutarch  :  De  Iside,  22,  33,  Wilkinson :  Second  Series  of  Manners  and 
Customs  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians.     Vol.  i.  p.  340. 

2  Philip  Smith :  History  of  the  World.  New  York,  1865.  Vol.  i.  p.  200. 
Layard:  Nineveh  and  its  Remains.    Vol.  ii.  p.  212. 


i8o  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

of  qualities  for  which  each  animal  was  severally  distin- 
guished. The  Hebrews  had,  for  example,  what  are 
called  in  the  Old  Testament  cherubs,  and  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse living  creatures,  or  in  the  English  version,  most 
unfortunately,  beasts,  —  composite  forms  made  by  uniting 
parts  of  the  four  animals  mentioned  above  ;  the  Egyp- 
tians produced  such  compositions  as  the  sphinx ;  the 
Chaldeans  sculptured  on  their  temples  winged  lions  and 
bulls ;  and  the  Hindoos  abounded  in  most  fantastic 
combinations. 

Of  plants,  the  lotus-flower  was  the  representative 
of  life  and  immortality  both  among  the  Hindoos  and 
the  Egyptians.  A  wreath  of  green  was  everywhere  in 
ancient  times,  as  it  is  even  now,  a  recognized  symbol. 
Its  significance  is,  however,  so  evident,  and  so  generally 
discovered  at  once  by  those  who  have  not  been  initiated 
into  artificial  systems,  that  it  must  be  regarded  as 
belonging  to  the  realm  of  natural,  rather  than  of 
arbitrary  symbolism. 

From  the  mineral  kingdom,  the  ancients  adopted  the 
metals  as  representatives  of  some  of  the  most  important 
ideas  to  be  expressed  in  their  symbolic  institutions. 
Gold,  as  the  most  precious,  was  chiefly  used  in  the 
rendition  of  honor  to  kings  and  gods,  not  being  coined  as 
money  till  after  the  time  of  Moses.  Silver  and  copper 
also  had  their  place,  as  more  expressive  of  some  qualities 
than  gold. 

To  interpret  this  artificial  symboli-sm,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  know  the  significance  of  numbers,  forms,  colors, 
vegetable  and  mineral  substances,  animals,  and  figures 
of  animals,  so  far  as  these  things  were  employed  by 
Moses  to  represent  ideas.     As  a  preliminary,  therefore. 


MEANS  OF  interpretation:  l8l 

to  the  interpretation  of  the  tabernacle,  we  shall  devote 
the  next  chapter  to  an  examination  of  its  symbolism  of 
number  and  form,  and  in  subsequent  pages  consider  the 
significance  of  color.  Afterward  we  must  take  up  its 
catalogue  of  representative  objects  from  the  realm  of 
nature,  and  inquire,  in  regard  to  each  of  them,  what  it 
was  intended  to  represent.  A  few  symbols  of  minor 
importance,  or  of  less  evident  meaning,  will  be  passed 
by  in  this  preliminary  work,  to  be  interpreted  when  seen 
in  their  connection  with,  and  relation  to,  more  prominent 
and  more  picturesque  members  of  the  system. 

i6 


CHAPTER  V. 

SYMBOLISM   OF    NUMBER   AND    FORM. 

The  symbolic  use  of  number  has  left  marks  on  the 
customs  or  literature  of  almost  all  the  nations  of 
antiquity,     A  Roman  poet  sings,  — 

"  Around  his  waxen  image  first  I  wind 
Three  woollen  fillets  of  three  colors  joined, 
Thrice  bind  about  his  thrice  devoted  head, 
Which  round  the  sacred  altar  thrice  is  led  : 
Unequal  numbers  please  the  gods."  ^ 

Another  Roman,  commenting  on  this  passage,  says, 
"  The  power  of  almost  all  the  gods  is  shown  by  a  triplex 
sign  ;  as,  the  three-forked  lightning  of  Jupiter,  the  tri- 
dent of  Neptune,  and  the  three-headed  dog  of  Pluto."  ^ 
A  Greek  philosopher  declares,  "  All  things  are  in  triads, 
and  the  triad  is  in  every  thing ;  for,  as  the  Pythagoreans 
also  say,  the  all  and  all  things  are  bounded  by  three," 
and  proceeds,  "  Wherefore,  receiving  from  Nature  her 
laws,  we  use  this  number  also  for  the  sacred  rites  of  the 
gods."  3  Plutarch  testifies  that  the  Egyptians  represented 

1  Dryden's  Virgil,  Eclogue  viii.    The  lines  in  the  original  are, — 

"  Tema  tibi  haec  primum  triplici  diversa  colore 
Licia  circumdo,  terque  haec  altaria  circum 
Effigiem  duco :  nuraero  deus  impare  gaudet. 

2  Servius'  Commentary  on  Virgil  at  the  place  cited. 
8  Aristotle:  De  Coelo,  i.  i. 

182 


I 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NUMBER  AND  FORM.  183 

the  all  by  the  most  perfect  triangle  which  could  be 
drawn,  unquestionably  using  the  all  in  the  same  panthe- 
istic sense  in  which  Aristotle  and  Pythagoras  employed 
it  as  equivalent  to  the  Deity. 

We  shall  not  attempt  to  trace  this  usage  in  countries 
lying  farther  toward  the  east.  It  is  certain  that  the 
Assyrians,  the  Hindoos,  and  the  Chinese  employed  a 
symbolism  of  number ;  and  it  is  probable  that  they  use* 
substantially  the  same  system  as  obtained  among  the 
Egyptians,  the  Greeks,  and  the  Romans.  It  is  to  be 
expected  that,  in  the  advancement  of  learning,  light  will 
be  reflected  upon  the  symbolism  of  the  Bible  from  the 
recently  discovered  monuments  of  Assyria ;  and  it  may 
be  that  by  the  study  of  arrow-heads  and  wedges  the 
knowledge  of  numerical  symbolism  among  the  Hebrews 
will  be  greatly  advanced.^ 

At  present,  however,  we  must  find  our  way  as  well  as 
we  can  by  means  of  a  comparison  of  Hebrew  usage  with 
that  of  the  Egyptians,  the  Greeks,  and  the  Romans. 
The  symbolism  of  the  three  nations  last  mentioned  had 
so  much  in  common  that  we  may  regard  it  as  one 
system  derived  from  the  Egyptians  by  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  as  it  was  also  by  the  Hebrews  if  they  did  not 
bring  it  with  them  into  Egypt  as  an  inheritance  from 
their  Chaldean  ancestor.  Difference  of  religion  may 
have  occasioned  a  more  frequent  symbolic  use  of  a 
particular  number  in  one  nation  than  in  another,  and 
may  even  have  modified  its  significance  as  it  also  some- 
times changes  the  meaning  of  words  ;  but  in  these 
three   nations  there   was    a  general  coincidence  in  the 

1  Rawlinson :  TheFive  Great  Monarchies.  New  York,  1871.  Vol.  i.  p.  116; 
vol.  iiL  p.  31. 


1 84  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

meaning  of  numbers,  and  in  the  selection  of  those  which, 
being  used  in  the  service  of  religion,  were  therefore  called 
sacred. 

It  is  thought  by  some  that  these  sacred  numbers  were 
consecrated  because  they  were  found  occurring  in  the 
visible  universe,  and  might  therefore  be  regarded  as 
favorites  of  the  gods.  Seven,  for  example,  being  the 
sum  total  of  the  planets,  and  twelve  corresponding  with 
the  divisions  of  the  zodiac,  these  numbers  must  be 
peculiarly  agreeable  to  the  Being  who  had  thus  stamped 
them  upon  his  creation. 

But  this  theory  neither  accounts  for  the  use  of  seven 
and  twelve  in  the  particular  meanings  we  find  them 
carrying,  nor  furnishes  any  reason  at  all  for  the  sacredness 
of  three,  four,  and  ten.  Besides,  the  sun  and  the  moon 
must  be  counted  in  with  Mercury,  Venus,  Mars,  Jupiter, 
and  Saturn,  to  make  seven  ;  which,  so  far  from  being  a 
necessary  mode  of  conceiving  of  the  planets,  seems  like 
an  attempt  to  produce  the  number  seven  as  something 
already  esteemed  and  desired ;  while  the  division  of  the 
zodiac  into  twelve  parts  is  by  no  means  unavoidable, 
and  may  have  been  determined  by  those  who  already 
regarded  twelve  as  holy. 

It  is  more  probable  that  the  symbolism  of  number 
had  its  origin  in  the  philosophy  which,  discovering  every- 
where the  reign  of  exact  and  universal  law,  identified  it 
with  the  law  of  arithmetical  relations.  Nothing  is  more 
exact  than  arithmetic  ;  and  the  ancients  thought  that 
they  had  found  in  it  the  rule  by  which  the  worlds 
were  made.  Under  this  conviction,  they  speculated  on 
number,  and  then  sought  in  nature  for  phenomena 
corresponding   with    the    results    of    their   speculation. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NUMBER  AND  FORM.  185 

Having  conceived  a  predilection  for  seven  planets,  rather 
than  five,  they  arrived  at  the  favorite  number  by  adding 
the  sun  and  the  moon,  to  the  five  moving  stars  then 
known  which  might,  with  equal  propriety,  have  been 
set  in  a  family  by  themselves. 

Among  systems  of  ancient  philosophy,  assuming  that 
the  law  governing  relations  of  number  was  identical 
with  the  law  which  pervades  the  visible  universe,  the 
system  of  Pythagoras  is  eminently  illustrative  of  the  sub- 
ject in  hand. 

Its  "  fundamental  doctrines  are,  that  the  essences  of 
all  things  rest  upon  numerical  relations  ;  that  numbers 
are  the  principle  of  all  that  exists ;  and  that  the  world 
subsists  by  the  rhythmical  order  of  its  different  elements. 
Everywhere  in  nature  appear  the  two  elements  of  the 
finite  and  the  infinite,  which  give  rise  to  the  elementary 
opposites  of  the  universe  ;  the  odd  and  even,  one  and 
many,  right  and  left,  male  and  female,  fixed  and  moved, 
straight  and  curved,  light  and  darkness,  square  and 
oblong,  good  and  bad.  The  essence  of  number  is  unity, 
which  is  at  once  odd  and  even,  and  contains  in  itself  in 
germ  all  the  universe.  It  is  at  once  the  form  and 
substance  of  all  things,  and  identical  with  the  Deity. 
Proceeding  from  itself,  it  begets  duality  ;  and,  returning 
upon  itself,  it  begets  trinity.  Added  to  itself,  it  produces 
the  line  ;  a  third  point  placed  on  the  other  two  gives  the 
surface  ;  and  a  fourth  point  placed  on  the  other  three 
gives  the  pyramid  or  solid.  The  quadrate,  or  tetractys, 
and  the  decade,  are,  like  unity,  sacred  numbers  and  first 
principles."  ^ 

In  the  coronation  of  number  as  the  reigning  principle, 

1  New  American  Cyclopedia.    New  York,  1863.    Art.  "  Pythagoras." 
16* 


l86  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

■Pythagoras  did  but  go  beyond  his  countrymen  and 
contemporaries ;  for  the  opinion  generally  prevailed  in 
his  day,  as  it  had  for  centuries,  that  the  same  laws  which 
determined  numerical  relations  were  impressed  on  the 
universe  and  were  discoverable  in  many  if  not  in  all 
things. 

Extravagant  stories  have  been  related  by  the  admirers 
of  Pythagoras  of  the  extent  of  his  travels,  and  personal 
contact  with  the  learned  men  of  foreign  countries ;  but 
it  is  admitted  by  the  most  critical  historians  that  he 
visited  Egypt,  and  that  his  philosophy  may  be  an 
offshoot  from  that  which  was  taught  on  the  banks  of  the 
Nile.  But,  if  he  studied  the  symbolism  of  number  in 
the  schools  where  Moses  had  previously  become  learned 
in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  it  is  to  be  expected 
that  his  speculations,  and  those  of  his  disciples,  will 
reflect  light  on  the  use  of  numbers  in  matters  of  religion 
not  only  in  Greece  and  Rome,  but  by  the  Egyptians  and 
the  Hebrews.  ^ 

We  thus  connect  the  Hebrews  with  the  Egyptians  in 
our  expectation  of  aid  from  the  philosophy  of  Egypt, 
because  there  is  no  reason  why  Moses,  renouncing  the 
symbolism  he  learned  as  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter, 
should  institute  a  new  system  in  its  place  ;  and  because 
there  is  too  close  a  resemblance  between  that  which  we 


1  Wilkinson  says  of  the  older  Greek  philosophers,  in  comparison  with  writers 
of  the  Alexandrian  school,  "  The  works  of  Plato,  and  other  more  ancient  writers, 
evidently  contain  much  that  owes  its  origin  to  the  knowledge  they  acquired  from 
the  Egyptians ;  and  Pythagoras  imitated  many  notions  of  his  instructors  with 
scrupulous  precision.  Such  authorities  are  of  the  greatest  use  in  the  examination 
of  the  dogmas  of  this  people  ;  and  they  had  the  advantage  of  studying  them  at  a 
time  and  place  in  which  religion  was  not  exposed  to  fanciful  innovations."  — Sec- 
ond Series  of  the  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians,  vol.  i.  p.  227. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NUMBER  AND  FORM.  187 

find  in  his  institutions,  and  that  which  he  must  have 
learned  in  Egypt,  to  permit  such  a  supposition.  Says 
Wilkinson,  speaking  of  the  seventy  days  of  mourning 
for  the  dead,  appointed  among  the  Egyptians,  "This 
arbitrary  period  cannot  fail  to  call  to  mind  the  frequent 
occurrence  of  the  numbers  seven  and  seventy,  which  are 
observed  in  so  many  instances  both  among  the  Egyp- 
tians and  the  Jews."  ^ 

We  may  recur  to  the  brief  resume  of  the  system  of 
Pythagoras,  which  we  have  copied,  for  illustrations  of  the 
mode  in  which  aid  is  to  be  derived  from  the  speculations 
of  ancient  philosophy  in  the  interpretation  of  numerical 
symbolism.  In  his  doctrine  that  the  two  elements  of  the 
finite  and  the  infinite  give  origin  to  the  distinction  of 
odd  and  even,  we  find  the  key  to  the  fact  that  the 
ancients  apply  only  odd  numbers  to  whatever  relates  to 
the  gods,  that  is,  to  the  infinite.  Also,  when  we  hear 
him  speaking  of  unity  as  at  once  odd  and  even,  we  learn 
why  three  was  regarded  as  the  first  of  the  odd  numbers, 
and  therefore  pre-eminently  significant  of  divine  things. 

The  numbers  symbolically  used  in  the  tabernacle  are 
three,  four,  five,  seven,  ten,  and  twelve  ;  and  we  propose 
to  inquire,  in  reference  to  each  of  them,  what  there  is  in 
the  speculations  of  philosophy  to  determine  its  symbolic 
meaning  among  the  heathen,  and  then  what  was  peculiar 
in  the  use  of  it  by  the  Hebrews. 

III. 

Of  three,  the  philosophers  said  that  it  was  the  first  in 
the  series  of  numbers  of  which  we  could  speak  as  all ;  two 
things  when  put  together  being  mentioned  as  both,  but 

1  Wilkinson,  Second  Series,  vol.  ii.  p.  459. 


l88  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

not  as  all.  Several  passages  of  Greek  literature  charac- 
terize three  as  including  the  beginning,  middle,  and  end 
of  a  thing,  and  so  its  totality,  or  completeness.^  Aristotle 
argues  that  "  a  body  is  a  complete  magnitude,  because, 
while  a  line  is  divisible  in  one  way,  and  a  superficies  in 
two  ways,  a  body  is  divisible  in  three  ways  ;  and  three  are 
all,  and  thrice  includes  every  thing.  There  is  no  other 
magnitude  than  a  body  or  solid  from  the  division  of 
which  a  solid  would  result."  ^ 

They  found  in  nature  many  confirmations  of  the  signi- 
ficance which  their   speculations    had  thus  assigned  to 
three.     According  to  their  conception,  the  material  uni-  I 
verse  consisted  of  heaven,  earth,  and  hades  ;  and  duration 
was  complete  in  the  past,  the  present,  and  the  future. 

Receiving,  then,  from  Nature,  as  they  believed,  her 
laws,  they  applied  the  number  three  to  the  gods  and 
whatever  appertained  to  them,  in  testimony  of  the 
completeness  of  their  being.^  It  categorized  them  as 
immortal,  infinite,  and  divine,  in  distinction  from  mortal, 
finite,  and  human. 

Three  was  an  appropriate  signature  for  the  highest 
personality,  as  a  result  not  only  of  speculation,  but  of  the 
conception  which  they  entertained  of  the  origin  of  per- 

1  Dionysius  Halicamassensis,  Antiq.  Rom.  iii.  12  :  'Y^-Rvrri&ziojaTOv  yup  eivai. 
Tov  6e  rbv  upidfiov  elg  iinaaav  ufKpiajSTjTovfjfvov  npuy/xarog  dcaipeaiv  upxyv 
TE  Kot  fiiaa,  Kal  TcTiEVTjjv  exovra  ev  kavrC).  Plutarch,  Conviv.  ix.  3  :  Kat  firiv  6 
■KavTuv  upcdiiuv  TrpiJTog  teTiewq,  t]  filv  Tpiag,  ug  u.pxvv  koI  fieaov  exovaa 
Koi  TE/lof.  Johannes  Laurentius  Lydus,  De  Mensibus,  iv.  44 :  T^  yup  6vu6i 
awETi-Bovarig  /xovadog  npuTOi;  upid/xdg  etex^t/,  bg  KaXEiTCU  vif  eviov  riTiEwg, 
on  iTpu'Tog  Tu  nuvra  arj^aivEi  ual  npuTog  edsi^ev  upxrjv,  ftsaa,  TE^og. 

2  DeCoelo,  i.  i. 

3  Plato  (De  Legibus  iv.  716)  applies  the  same  language  to  the  Deity  as  Diony- 
sius in  the  place  above  cited,  applies  to  three,  viz  :  'O  [mev  dij  i9e6f,  ibanEp  Kal  6 
naTuitbg  Tt^oyog,  upx^jv  te  kuI  teTievttjv  koI  fiiaa  tuv  ovtuv  dndvTuv  lx<^v. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NUMBER  AND  FORM.  189 

sonal  gods.  The  impersonal  all,  energizing,  produced 
the  first  personality.  Here  are  three  ideas,  —  first,  the 
unknown  god  ;  second,  its  action ;  third,  the  product  of 
its  evolution. 

Not  content,  however,  with  this  one  triad,  they  made 
another  by  conceiving  of  three  gods  of  the  highest  rank, 
called,  in  the  mythology  of  Greece  and  Rome,  Jupiter 
who  ruled  the  air,  Neptune  the  god  of  the  sea,  and  Pluto 
who  reigned  in  the  under-world.  The  Egyptians  divided 
their  whole  pantheon  into  groups  of  three,  each  triad 
having  a  local  dominion,  and  a  temple  in  which  it  was 
jointly  worshipped.^ 

In  the  artificial  symbolism  of  the  ancients,  form,  as 
well  as  number,  had  significance  ;  and  the  triangle  was 
among  forms  what  three  was  among  numbers.  As 
three  is  the  earliest  number  which  restores  the  unity  lost 
in  duality,  and  the  earliest  to  which  we  can  apply  the 
word  all,  so  the  triangle  is  the  simplest  of  forms,  being 
included  by  the  fewest  lines  which  could  delineate  a 
figure.  It  was  employed,  therefore,  as  a  symbol,  to 
convey  by  its  form  the  same  significance  which  was 
conveyed  by  the  number  of  its  sides  considered  as  a 
number.  That  most  beautiful  triangle  of  which  Plutarch 
speaks  as  being,  among  the  Egyptians,  the  signature  of 
"  the  all"  was,  as  he  informs  us,  rectangular,  and  of  such 
proportions  that,  if  three  be  taken  as  the  length  of  the 
perpendicular,  four  will  be  the  measure  of  the  base,  and 
five  of  the  hypothenuse :  in  which  scheme  the   perpen- 


1  Wilkinson  :  Second  Series  of  The  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Egyp- 
tians, vol.  i.  p.  185.  See  on  p.  343  of  the  same  volume,  an  illustrative  instance 
of  the  symbolism  of  three  in  the  account  given  of  the  triple  symbol,  representing 
the  perfection  of  the  generative  power  of  Osiris. 


190  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

dicular  is  designed  to  represent  the  masculine  nature, 
the  base,  the  feminine,  and  the  hypothenuse,  the  off- 
spring of  both ;  and  accordingly  the  first  will  apply  to 
Osiris  the  prime  cause,  the  second  to  Isis  the  receptive 
power,  and  the  last  to  Orus  the  effect  of  the  other  two.^ 

Mosaism  was  so  antagonistic  to  all  the  systems  of 
heathenism,  in  respect  to  the  ideas  inculcated,  that  it 
could  not  possibly  use  the  triangle  as  an  emblem  of  the 
one  God  whom  it  revealed.  It  prohibited  altogether 
the  use  of  symbols  of  Jehovah  made  with  hands,  and 
furnished  in  the  shechinah  a  supernatural  signature 
which  might  not  be  displaced  by  any  other. 

But  though  there  was  no  three-sided  figure  in  the 
tabernacle,  or  in  any  thing  connected  with  it,  there  are 
indications  that  the  use  of  three  as  the  number  sug- 
gesting inherent  completeness,  and,  by  consequence,  the 
divine  Being,  was  retained  by  the  Hebrews.  Such  indi- 
cations are  discernible  not  only  in  the  institutions 
established  through  the  instrumentality  of  Moses,  but 
in  the  national  literature  in  subsequent  generations  till 
the  time  of  the  New  Testament  Apocalypse. 

For  example  :  three  limited  the  period  which  the  peo- 
ple were  required  to  spend  in  solemn  waiting^  before 
Jehovah  revealed  his  presence  by  lightning  and  thunder 
from  the  summit  of  Sinai  to  enter  into  a  formal  cove- 
nant with  them  according  to  previous  arrangement. 
They  had  not  only  time  for  preparation,  but  a  reminder, 
in  the  number  of  days  thus  spent,  that  the  Being  whom 
they  expected  was  infinite  and  divine. 


1  Plutarch  :  De  Iside  et  Osiride,  56.    See  Wilkinson.  Second  Series,  vol.  i.  p. 
192. 

2  Exod.  xix.  II,  16. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NUMBER  AND  FORM.  191 

Again  :  a  person  defiled  by  contact  with  the  dead  was 
required  to  be  sprinkled  with  the  water  of  separation 
on  the  third,  and  again  on  the  seventh  day;  and  was 
expressly  declared  not  to  be  lustrated  unless  sprinkled  on 
the  third  day,  as  well  as  on  the  seventh.^  As  seven,  the 
numerical  sign  of  the  covenant,  results  from  the  addition 
of  three  and  four,  the  nvmibers  representing  the  infinite 
and  the  finite,  respectively,  and  thus  marks  the  covenant 
as  a  transaction  in  which  the  two  parties  are  engaged, 
the  requirement  of  the  two  sprinklings,  the  first  on  the 
third  day  of  the  ceremonial,  and  the  second  after  an 
interval  of  four  days,  must  have  been  an  impressive  seal 
of  restoration  to  the  privileges  of  the  covenant. 

The  formula  in  which  the  officiating  priest  was  to 
bless  the  people  at  the  close  of  worship  was  a  triplet  of 
clauses  containing  the  name  of  Jehovah  in  each  ;  and 
the  law  which  prescribed  the  formula  declares  that  to 
pronounce  it  was  to  put  that  sacred  name  upon  the 
children  of  Israel.^  '  By  their  traditions  the  priests 
intensified  the  significance  of  three  in  this  formula, 
accompanying  the  utterance  of  the  triplet  with  a  three- 
fold division  of  the  fingers  when  their  hands  were 
stretched  forth  in  the  attitude  of  benediction.^ 

A  similar  threefold  repetition  is  found  in  the  vision 
of  the  throne  of  God  vouchsafed  to  Isaiah.  Two 
seraphs  stood  above  the  throne,  and  cried  one  to 
another,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy,  is  the  Lord  of  hosts."  * 
However  it  may  be  with  the  uninitiated,  one  who 
has  acquainted  himself  with  the  numerical  symbolism  of 
the  ancient  heathen  nations,  and  compared  with  it  the 

1  Num.  xix.  12.  2  Num.  vi.  23,  et  seq. 

8  Lund,  Book  III.  ch.  xlviii,  n.  18.         ^  Isa.  vi.  1-3. 


192  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

Hebrew  use  of  numbers,  will  not  be  likely  to  disbelieve 
that  the  triplicity  of  this  ascription  was  determined  by 
a  law  requiring  for  the  countrymen  and  contemporaries 
of  the  prophet,  three,  rather  than  two  or  four,  as  the 
number  representing  that  which  is  infinite  and  divine. 

Passing  onward  to  the  New  Testament,  we  find  Paul, 
who  styles  himself  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,  using  in 
respect  to  the  God  of  his  fathers  the  triplex  assertion, 
"  Of  him,  and  through  him,  and  to  him  are  all  things  ;"  ^ 
and  the  writer  of  the  Apocalypse  declaring  that  he  also 
had  seen  in  vision  the  throne  of  God,  and  that  symbolic 
beings  around  and  before  it  were  continually  exclaiming 
as  in  the  vision  of  Isaiah,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God 
Almighty,  who  was,  and  is,  and  is  to  come,"  ^  thus 
designating  the  object  of  their  reverence  by  three 
several  appellations,  affirming  in  the  trisagion  the  per- 
fection of  his  holiness,  and  in  the  concluding  ternary 
clause  the  eternity,  independence,  and  indestructibility 
of  his  existence. 

There  are,  indeed,  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  two  or 
three  instances  where  a  word  or  phrase  which  has  no 
reference  to  the  infinite  and  divine  is  thrice  used,  so 
that  such  a  reference  in  the  cases  above  cited  cannot  be 
established  by  an  appeal  to  universal  usage  ;  but  these 
exceptions  to  one  rule  fall  under  another  which  is  more 
generic,  namely,  that  triplicity  implies  inherent  com- 
pleteness. The  repetition  is  for  the  sake  of  saying  the 
thing  exhaustively ;  as,  for  example,  "  The  temple  of 
Jehovah,  the  temple  of  Jehovah,  the  temple  of  Jehovah, 
are  these,"  ^  and  "  O  earth,  earth,  earth,  hear  the  word 
of  Jehovah."  *     There  is  either  a  law  of  nature,  or  a  law 

1  Rom.  xL  36.        2  Rev.  iv.  2-8.        s  jer.  vii,  4.        4  jer.  xxii.  29. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NUMBER  AND  FORM.  193 

if  usage  which,  being  already  established  in  the  time  of 
tlic  prophets,  still  remains,  and  affects  us  as  if  it  were  a 
law  of  nature,  by  which  a  threefold  utterance  is  more 
forcible  than  a  mere  repetition,  and  gains  nothing  by 
further  iteration.  These  instances,  therefore,  go  to 
show  that  with  the  Hebrews  three  was  the  numerical  sign 
of  that  which  is  in  itself  complete.  But  the  heathen 
applied  it  to  that  which  is  divine  for  this  very  reason  ; 
and  Moses  was  so  well  acquainted  with  their  usage,  that 
he  could  not  connect  this  number  with  the  mention  of 
God  without  being  conscious  that  he  was  employing  a 
symbol  in  common  use  in  other  nations,  to  represent 
that  which  is  divine  because  inherently  complete.  If 
triplicity,  as  thus  used,  had  been  displeasing  to  him. 
he  certainly  would  have  devised  some  way  of  giving 
emphasis  to  his  language  without  using  the  offensive 
symbol  in  immediate  connection  with  the  mention  of 
Jehovah.  But  why  should  he  reject  the  language  of 
symbolism  because  it  had  been  subjected  to  the  service 
of  a  false  religion,  more  than  other  language  which  had 
suffered  a  similar  misuse  .''  Why  should  he  not  employ 
the  very  symbol  under  consideration  to  inculcate  the 
inherent  perfection  of  the  God  whom  he  served } 

Further  illustration  of  the  symbolic  use  of  three  by 
the  Hebrews  may  be  found  in  the  Apocalypse  of  the 
New  Testament.  The  whole  book  seems  to  have  been 
composed  with  a  reference  in  the  mind  of  the  author  to 
the  significance  of  numbers  ;  but  the  conspicuous  role 
of  three  is  worthy  of  notice  even  if  we  do  not  wait  to 
inquire  what  it  signified.  Stuart  says,  "  With  scarcely 
an  exception,  it  is  so  arranged  that  either  the  number 
three,  or  else  seven,  four,  ten,  twelve,  and  (if  parallelism 
13 


194  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

DC  counted)  two,  control  its  modes  of  development ;  i.e., 
the  arrangement  of  its  parts  greater  and  smaller,  the 
grouping  of  its  objects,  the  assignment  of  attributes  to 
them,  the  epexegetical  clauses,  and  the  order  of  action 
main  and  subordinate.  Above  all,  the  number  three 
stands  conspicuous  in  the  whole  plan,  and  in  all  its  parts 
considerable  and  minute.  Next  to  this  stands  the 
so-called  sacred  number  seven,  then  four,  then  twelve, 
and  lastly  ten."  ^ 

It  is  said  that  the  Book  of  Job  also  exhibits  in  its 
divisions  a  similar  reference  in  the  mind  of  the  author 
to  three  as  a  significant  number.^ 

IV. 

The  ancients,  reserving  three  for  things  invisible  and 
infinite,  assigned  to  four  the  office  of  representing 
material  substances,  and  found  in  it  a  special  aptitude 
for  this  use,  because  if  unity,  or  one,  represents  a  point,  a 
second  point  extends  it  to  a  line ;  a  third  being  added  at 
right  angles  to  the  line  extends  it  to  a  superficies ;  and 
a  fourth  being  superimposed  extends  the  superficies  to  a 
solid.  ^  In  the  symmetrical  composition  of  this  number 
out  of  the  two  factors  which  produce  it  both  by  addition 
and  multiplication,  they  found  a  reason  for  representing 

1  Commentary  on  the  Apocalypse.     Andover,  1845.     Vol.  i.  p.  130. 

2  Ibid,  vol.  i.  p.  142. 

8  Philo  :  De  Mundi  Opificio.  Upurj]  yup  avrrj  (sc.  TETpaq)  ttjv  tov  OTEpeov 
ipvaiv  eSei^e  tuv  npo  avTTJc;  upc&/iuv  Tolq  uaufiaroic  uvaKEt/xsvuv  kuto.  /xev  yap 
TO  iv  TaTTETai  to  2,£y6/j.Evov  hv  yEUfZETpia  elvai  crjfXElov  (point)-  Kara  6e  to.  dvo, , 
ypafinTj  (line)-  ypa/ifLTj  6e  ectl  /i?jkoc  unTiaTEC  nTiurov^  ds  irpoayET'OfZEVOv  yivETat 
inupavEia,  tj  TETanTat  k-otu  Tpiada-  ETTKpavEia  6e  npoc  Tfjji  tov  CTEpEov  (pvacv,  kvbg 
SstTai  TOV  (Scfdovc  o  npooEdiv  Tpu'idi,  ylvETat  TETpug-  6-&EV  «at  niya  XPW^ 
avn(iifij]KEV  eIi'm  tov  upc-dfibv  tovtov,  of  ek  ttiq  aaoi/iinov  koI  vor)T7jg  ovaiaQ 
fjyayEV  Tj/xag  elg  hvoiav  Tpixy  SiaoTaTov  cunaTog  t?j  (pvaei  npuTov  (uadrjToii. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NUMBER  AND  FORM.  195 

by  it  not  only  matter,  but  the  universe  of  matter  in  its 
orderly  arrangement,  and  therefore  employed  it  as  a 
signature  of  the  cosmos.^ 

They  accordingly  found  this  number  everywhere  in 
the  universe  around  them.^  There  were  four  elements, 
four  winds,  and  four  seasons  of  the  year ;  the  earth  had 
four  ends  and  four  corners,  and  so  had  the  heavens. 

In  availing  himself  of  that  numerical  symbolism 
which  he  had  learned  in  Egypt,  Moses  was  constrained 
to  modify  the  meaning  of  four.  Heathenism  conceived 
of  the  material  universe  as  the  only  revelation  of  the 
Being  who  created  it ;  but  Moses  knew  that  the  visible 
world,  beautiful  and  glorious  as  it  appeared  in  itself, 
and  as  a  manifestation  of  the  Creator,  was  subsidiary 
to  man,  and  to  God's  purposes  in  regard  to  him. 
Heathenism  pointed  only  to  the  power  and  wisdom 
of  God  as  evident  in  the  orderly  disposition  of  matter ; 
but  through  Moses  a  revelation  was  made  of  God's 
moral  nature,  as  well  as  of  his  natural  attributes.  In 
Mosaism,  as  in  Christianity,  nature,  though  not  unim- 
portant, was  inferior  to  the  supernatural.  The  material 
universe  was  regarded  as  subsidiary  to  a  race  of  beings 
made  in  the  likeness  of  God,  in  whose  history  the 
Creator  would  reveal  his  glory  more  fully  than  he  had 
done  in  the  earth  beneath,  or  in  the  firmament  above. 
All  things  were  created  to  the  intent  that  the  wisdom  of 
God  (which  the  Egyptians  discovered  in  the  constitution 

1  "  Clemens  mentions  the  custom  of  carrying  four  golden  figures  in  the  festivals 
of  the  gods.  They  were  two  dogs,  a  hawk,  and  an  ibis,  which,  like  the  number  four, 
had  a  mysterious  meaning.  The  dogs  represented  the  hemispheres,  tlie  Jiawk  the 
sun,  and  the  ibis  the  moon."  Wilkinson,  Second  Series  of  Manners  and  Customs, 
vol.  ii.  p.  302.    See  also  Philo,  ibid ;  and  Plutarch,  De  Iside,  76. 

2  Philo  :  De  Plantationje  Noe. 


196  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

of  things  according  to  the  laws  of  arithmetic  and 
geometry,)  might  be  made  known  even  to  principalities 
and  powers  in  heavenly  places  by  means  of  a  people 
whom  God  had  chosen  for  that  end. 

In  Mosaism,  therefore,  four  represented,  as  in  hea- 
thenism, that  in  which  God  dwelt,  and  revealed  himself ; 
but  it  represented  his  church  rather  than  the  material 
universe,  the  people  of  Israel  rather  than  the  rest  of 
manlcind,  because,  according  to  the  idea  of  Mosaism, 
Israel  was  his  dwelling-place.  In  the  purpose  of  God, 
all  other  nations  were  ultimately  to  be  included  with  the 
Hebrews  as  his  people ;  but  this  purpose,  though 
obscurely  hinted  at  in  the  communications  which 
Jehovah  made  from  time  to  time  to  the  Hebrews,  was 
not  fully  revealed  till  the  advent  of  Christ.  It  was  to 
the  Hebrews,  in  distinction  from  other  nations,  that 
Jehovah  promised  to  come  and  dwell  among  them,  to  be 
their  God,  and  have  them  for  his  people.  If,  then,  we 
find  four  occurring  in  the  tabernacle,  we  must  think  of 
the  Hebrew  theocracy,  the  chosen  people  of  God 
organized  into  a  community  of  which  he  was  the  ruler, 
rather  than  of  the  cosmos.  ^  Four  had  not  ceased  to 
signify  in  Hebrew  symbolism  the  visible  world,  and  the 
revelation  it  makes  of  the  Creator;  but  in  this  symbolic 
institution  it  is  to  be  referred  to  the  spiritual  kingdom 
of  God  in  the  world,  and  not  to  the  world  itself. 

As  four  represented  in  heathenism  not  only  the 
cosmos,  but   its   revelation   of   the  wisdom   and   power. 


1  Bahr,  though  endeavoring  to  guard  against  the  cosmical  views  of  heathenism, 
nevertheless  refers  the  quadrangle,  so  often  occurring  in  the  tabernacle,  to  the 
material  universe  as  the  habitation  of  God.  The  view  presented  in  the  text  accords 
with  that  advocated  by  Kurtz  in  Studien  und  Kritiken,  1844,  p.  342  et  seq. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NUMBER  AND  FORM.  197 

employed  in  its  production,  so  in  Mosaism  this  number 
referred  not  merely  to  the  Hebrew  church,  but  to  the 
revelation  of  himself  which  Jehovah  was  making  in  and 
by  means  of  it.  It  was  the  signature  of  the  whole 
collective  body  of  God's  redeemed  people,  employed  to 
represent  them  in  the  revelations  and  visions  by  means 
of  which  God  made  himself  known,  showing  itself  not 
only  in  the  quadrangular  ground-plan  of  the  tabernacle 
and  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  but  in  the  ideal  temple 
exhibited  to  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  in  the  New  Jerusalem 
of  the  Apocalypse,  and  in  the  symbols  of  redeemed 
humanity  which  Ezekiel  saw  in  vision  beneath  the 
sapphire  throne  of  Jehovah. 

The  number  four  is  so  conspicuous,  in  the  last 
instance,  that  it  may  be  instructive  to  notice  how  fre- 
quently it  has  been  introduced.  Out  of  the  midst  of  the 
cloud  which  was  the  first  scene  of  the  vision,  appeared 
four  living  creatures,  every  one  having  four  faces  and  four 
wings  ;  the  four  faces  of  each  were  faces  of  four  different 
animals.  The  four  symbolic  beings  supported  a  throne, 
which  they  carried  with  equal  ease  toward  any  one  of 
the  four  points  of  the  compass.  There  were  four  wheels 
animated  and  moved  by  these  living  creatures. 

As  a  triangle  was  coincident  in  meaning  with   three, 

we  might  expect  that  a  figure  bounded  by  four  sides 

would   have    the  same  significance  as  four.     Not  only 

does  coincidence  between  form  and  number  in  the  first 

case  excite  expectation  of  it  in  the  other ;  but,  anteriorly 

to  the  knowledge  of  such  coincidence,  there  is,  in  the 

laws  which  regulate  all  expression  of  thought,  ground 

of  expectation  that  there  will  be  such  accord  between 

number  and  form  in  their  symbolism   that  a   superficial 
17* 


198  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

figure  shall  not  in  its  significance  traverse,  but  har- 
monize with,  the  number  of  lines  which  constitute  its 
boundary.  Accordingly  we  find  that,  as  four  was  the 
numerical  signature  of  the  theocracy,  the  tabernacle  was 
four-sided,  and  the  court  of  corresponding  shape,  as 
was  also  in  after  times  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  The 
temple  seen  in  vision  by  Ezekiel,  and  the  New  Jerusalem 
described  in  the  Apocalypse,  were  also  four-sided.  The 
reason  why  some  of  the  figures  exhibited  by  a  horizon- 
tal section  of  these  symbolic  edifices  were  square,  and 
others  oblong,  will  appear  hereafter :  it  is  sufficient  for 
the  present  purpose  that  they  were  all  quadrilateral,  as 
if,  in  the  symbolism  of  form,  only  a  four- sided  figure 
could  represent  the  thought  conveyed  by  the  numeral 
four  in  the  symbolism  of  number. 


Various  meanings  were  attached  to  five  by  the 
Pythagoreans,  springing  out  of  its  relation  to  other 
numbers ;  but  the  Hebrews  appear  to  have  used  it  only 
in  its  relation  to  ten.  What  it  signified  when  thus  used, 
may  be  inferred  from  explanations  found  in  Greek 
literature  ;  of  which  we  will  specify  two.  A  disciple  of 
Pythagoras  speaks  of  this  number  as  "  half  divine,  not 
only  because  it  is  the  half  of  ten,  but  also  because  it 
occupies  the  middle  or  half-way  place  in  the  line  of 
numbers."  ^  Another  writer  says,  "  Five  receiving  four, 
which  is  the  signature  of  matter,  increases  it,  and  carries 
it   on    toward    the     completeness    which    results    from 

1  Quoted  by  Bahr,  vol.  i.  p.  186.  Kat  'H/iti?eof,  ov  yibvov  bn  tov  Sena,  -deiov 
ovTog,  Tjn'caeia  eanv,  iMu  /cat  qtc  ev  tw  Wtw  dia-ypufifian  ev  ry  Kara  ^leaov 
heTaKTO. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NUMBER  AND  FORM.  199 

growth  ;  for  five  is  the  divider  of  ten,  and,  as  it  were,  an 
image  of  the  perfection  belonging  to  it."  ^  The  conclu- 
sion is,  that  five,  in  its  relation  to  ten,  denoted  the 
incomplete,  or,  if  used  with  mathematical  precision,  the 
dimidiate,  condition  of  that  which  would  be  finished  in 
ten. 

VII. 

Of  all  numbers  conveying  significance  in  matters  of 
religion,  seven  was  most  frequently  employed  by  the 
Hebrews.  It  was  also  in  use  among  other  ancient 
nations,  particularly  the  Chaldeans,  the  Arabs,  the 
Persians,  and  the  Egyptians.^  Traces  of  it  are  found 
in  the  literature  ^  and  mythology  of  Greece ;  but  they 
are  less  frequent  and  less  deep  than  those  left  by  other 
numbers,  especially  by  three  and  four.  The  usual 
sources  of  interpretation,  therefore,  fail  to  a  corre- 
sponding extent.  The  symbol  of  Pan  and  his  pipe  of 
seven  reeds  was  probably  designed  to  represent  the 
harmony  of  the  universe,  and  the  delight  in  it  of 
the  intelligent  but  not  personal  source  from  which  it  was 
evolved  ;  seven  referring  to  the  number  of  the  planets, 
and  to  "  the  music  of  the  spheres." 

The  earliest  explanation  given  in  Greek  literature  of 
the  significance  of  this  number  on  speculative  grounds 
is  that  given  by  Philo,  who  praises  it  at  great  length  as 
the  most  honorable  of  all  the  numbers  within   the  first 

1  Johannes  Laurentius  Lydus :  De  Mensibus,  ii.  9.  'H  yilp  ttevto.^  irapaka^ovaa 
TTjv  TETpada  i/lr/f  Xoyov  ixovaav  .  .  .  ifi^rjae  Teavrijv  kol  npoTj-yayev  km  ttjv  unh 
TTjQ  av^TjaeuQ  aluviov  uvanvKkriaiV  fieiiopuov  yap  TTjg  deaado^,  koI  wf  av  elduTiov 

£071  TTjq  K01V7/C  TeTieiOTTjTOg  TJ  ■KEVTO.g. 

2  Gesenius,  Lex.  Heb.  J?5^-     Wilkinson  :  Second  Series,  vdI.  ii.  p.  459. 
8  Gesenius,  ibid.  p2\i/. 


200  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

decade ;  being  formed  by  the  union  of  three  and  four, 
the  signatures,  respectively,  of  incorporeal  and  corporeal 
things  ;  containing  in  itself  all  arithmetical,  geometrical, 
and  musical  proportions  ;  dividing  the  seventy  years  of 
human  life,  according  to  Solon,  into  periods  of  ten,  and, 
according  to  Hippocrates,  into  seven  periods,  each 
consisting  of  seven  or  a  multiple  of  seven.  The 
Pythagoreans,  he  says,  assimilate  it  to  the  Ruler  of  the 
universe,  because  it  is  so  unique  among  the  numbers.^ 

If  the  Pythagoreans,  and  the  Egyptian  priests  from 
whom  Pythagoras  learned  the  significance  of  numbers, 
applied  seven  to  the  Ruler  of  the  universe,  it  was  probably 
with  reference  to  the  union  between  the  primal  all  and 
the  all  which  had  been  evolved.  That  they  so  applied 
it,  rests  for  the  present  on  the  testimony  of  Philo 
confirmed  by  the  common  interpretation  of  the  myth  in 
regard  to  Pan.  The  study  of  Egyptology  may  confirm 
or  refute  this  testimony.  Meantime  it  suggests  a 
probable  explanation  of  the  religious  usage  of  seven 
both  by  pantheistic  and  monotheistic  nations.  With 
diversity  of  meaning,  incident  to  diversity  of  religion,  it 
signified  alike  in  the  two  opposite  systems  the  union  of 
the  infinite  and  the  finite.  In  heathenism,  seven  was 
the  signature  of  the  Ruler  of  the  universe,  present  in, 
and  acting  on  the  universe.  In  monotheism,  it  signified 
the  presence  of  the  one  living  and  true  God  in 
communion  with  his  intelligent  creation. 

Moses  had  been  instructed,  doubtless,  in  respect  to 
the  use  of  seven  in  the  philosophy  of  Egypt,  and  was 
probably  acquainted  also  with  its  different  and  yet  similar 
use  in  the  religion  of  his  ancestor  who  emigrated  from 

^  De  Mundi  Opificio. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NUMBER  AND  FORM.  201 

Chaldea.  For  there  is  evidence  that  Abraham,  as  well 
as  the  pantheistic  patrons  of  Egyptian  idolatry,  attached 
symbolic  significance  to  this  number.  In  the  language 
he  learned  in  his  native  Mesopotamia  and  transmitted  to 
his  descendants,  seven,  and  the  appeal  to  God  made  in  an 
oath,  were  expressed  by  the  same  word,  so  that  one  might 
literally  translate  a  portion  of  the  record  of  his  covenant 
with  the  king  of  Gerar,  "  Wherefore  he  called  that  place 
the  Well  of  the  Oath,  because  there  they  sware  both  of 
them ; "  or,  the  Well  of  Seven,  because  there  they  both 
were  sevened.  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  also,  that  Abraham 
gave  to  Abimelech  seven  ewe-lambs  as  a  witness  or  seal 
of  the  covenant  by  the  terms  of  which  the  well  was 
confirmed  to  Abraham  as  his  property.^ 

Balaam,  who  resided  ^  not  far  from  the  original  home 
of  Abraham,  seems  to  have  attached  a  similar  value 
to  the  number  seven.  Retained  by  the  king  of  Moab  to 
pronounce  an  inspired  curse  on  the  Hebrews,  he  directed 
that  seven  altars  should  be  built,  and  offered  thereon 
seven  bullocks  and  seven  rams.  Failing  to  procure  the 
desired  oracle  against  Israel,  Balak  conducted  the  prophet 
to  another  eminence,  where  he  again  required  that  seven 
altars  should  be  erected,  and  again  sacrificed  seven  bull- 
ocks and  seven  rams,  in  hope  of  receiving  a  message 
from  God  of  different  import.  Disappointed  a  second 
time,  the  king  brought  him  to  a  third  high  place,  where 
he  once  more  repeated  his  requirement  of  seven  altars, 
and  his  sacrifice  of  seven  bullocks  and  seven  rams. 

In  this  attempt  of  Balaam  to  obtain  an  oracle,  there 
was,  as  in  the  oath  of  Abraham,  an  appeal  to  God  ;  and 
probably  the  number  seven  indicated  in  both   cases   a 

1  Gen.  xxi.  25-31.  2  Deut.  xxiii.  4 ;  Num.  wiii.  7. 


202  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

transaction  between  God  and  man.  It  signified  spiritual 
communion  between  the  Creator  and  his  intelligent 
creature,  as  in  pantheism  it  signified  the  union  of  the 
infinite  and  the  finite. 

We  need  not  here  catalogue  the  instances  in  which 
seven  occurs  in  the  tabernacle.  When  we  come  to  the 
work  of  interpretation,  the  key,  furnished  by  the  two 
examples  just  given  of  the  use  of  seven  by  monotheists 
outside  of  Mosaism,  will  be  applied  to  the  symbolic  insti- 
tutions of  the  Hebrews,  in  the  expectation  that  it  will  so 
effectually  accomplish  its  office  as  to  prove  itself  the 
true  key. 

X. 

In  all  nations  which  use  the  decimal  system  of  compu- 
tation, ten  has  a  significance  derived  from  its  place 
between  the  first  and  second  decades.  The  Egyptians 
and  the  Pythagoreans  regarded  it  as  the  beginning  of  the 
second,  rather  than  the  close  of  the  first  division  of 
numbers  ;  their  natural  progression  being  as  far  as  nine, 
after  which  their  retrogression  takes  place,  ten  becoming 
once  more  the  monad.  There  being  no  elementary 
number  beyond  nine,  the  Pythagoreans  called  it  ocean 
and  the  horizon ;  but  ten  was  called  heaven,  being  the 
most  perfect  boundary  of  number.^  They  discovered  a 
mystic  similarity  between  ten  and  four,  founded  in  the 
fact  that  the  sum  of  the  first  four  digits  is  equal  to  ten  ; 
and,  as  they  conceived  of  the  tetractys  as  the  numericg.! 
sign  of  body  or  the  visible  world,  so  ten  represented 
the  world  in  its  finished  and  perfected  condition.  Four 
symbolized  the  world  with  such  order  and  beauty  as   it 

1  Wilkinson  :  Second  Series,  vol.  i.  p.  197. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NUMBER  AND  FORM.  203 

now  possesses  ;  but  ten  suggested  a  cosmos  in  which  no 
defects  should  be  apparent.^ 

Ten  also  represented  as  a  perfect  boundary  of  number, 
the  totahty  of  the  world,  and  of  worldly  things.  The 
stars  were  numbered  in  clusters  of  ten  ;  armies  were 
enrolled  by  the  same  rule  ;  property,  consisting  at  first 
almost  exclusively  of  flocks  and  herds,  was  reckoned 
by  tens.  Doubtless  from  this  mode  of  reckoning 
property,  resulted  the  rule  of  giving  one-tenth,  rather 
than  some  other  fraction,  as  an  acknowledgment  that  a 
person's  whole  property  ^  is  from  God ;  and  the  univer- 
sality of  this  rule  is  one  of  many  proofs  that,  notwith- 
standing the  diversity  of  speech  in  the  ancient  world, 
the  language  of  number  was  ecumenical. 

Ten  is  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  Hebrew 
institutions  and  writings.  Both  Jewish  and  Christian 
commentators  ^  have  noticed  that,  during  the  six  days  of 
God's  work  of  creation,  there  were  ten  successive  fiats 
by  which  the  world  was  made,  and  that  after  the  record 
of  the  tenth  follows  the  declaration,  "  Thus  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  were  finished,  and  all  the  host  of  them." 
They  discover,  in   this    mode  of  narration,  an  intended 

1  Philo,  De  Miindi  Opificio  :  "H  &  earlv  atria,  61  Tjv  nporepa  fiev  k(i7iuaTi}0E 
Kol  kx^or)(j>6priaev  tj  yrj,  6  6'  ovpavoc  SieKoafielro  av&ijQ  kv  upLd/Ltu  TeXeiu,  TerpaSr 
j]v  dcKudog  rf/i;  navreT^ovg  ovk  uv  dia/xuproL  rlr  elvai  Tiiycjv  acpopfiriv  re  Kai  nTjyjjv. 
5  yap  evteXexcio.  deKug,  tovto  Terpug,  ug  toiKE  6vvd/j.Ef  el  ovv  ol  lino  /lovadog 
uxpc  TETpudog  E^T/g  crvvTEdEiEv  upp')/xol,6sKdda  yEvv7]aovaiv,TjTLg  opog  rfjg  anEipiag 
t€)v  upi&/j.(I)v  Earl,  wEpl  bv  ug  KafiizTTjpa  siTiOvvTai  Kal  avaKciixnTovct. 

2  Spencer  (De  Legibus  Hebraeorum,  Liber  III.  Dis.  i.  cap.  x.)  recognizes  in 
tithes  a  symbolic  meaning  of  ten,  but  erroneously  interprets  ien  as  signifying  the 
perfection  of  God.  Three  signified  inherent  completeness,  and  te7i  the  complete- 
ness resulting  from  addition  or  growth.  The  tenth  in  tithes  symbolized,  therefore, 
the  whole  property,  and  not  the  perfection  of  Him  to  whom  the  tenth  was  dedicated. 

3  Maimonides :  Pirke  Aboth  v.  i.     Delitzsch :  Genesis.    Leipzig,  1853.     P.  20- 


204  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

correspondence  with  the  progress  of  number  from  one 
to  ten,  where  the  first  decade  is  finished  by  the  com- 
mencement of  the  second  ;  the  tenth  fiat  of  the  Almighty 
representing  the  completeness  of  the  work,  as  the  seventh 
day  signified  its  end.  They  discover  the  law  of  number 
not  only  in  the  thought  and  speech  of  the  narrator,  but 
even  in  the  work  of  creation  itself  ;  ten,  which  is  the 
natural  sign  of  complete  organization,  being  thus 
stamped  upon  the  world  which  God  had  organized  and 
finished,  as  well  as  brought  into  existence. 

The  author  of  the  Book  of  Genesis,  having  recorded 
the  ten  successive  fiats  of  creation,  proceeds  to  build 
upon  this  record  his  history  of  the  world,  and  in  ten 
divisions,  each  commencing  with  the  words,  "  These  are 
the  generations,"  he  completes  it  to  his  own  time.  Such 
an  arrangement  of  his  history  was  doubtless  intended  to 
signify  that  it  was  not  a  fragment,  or  a  mere  aggregation 
of  independent  fragments,  but  an  organized  whole. 
"  The  number  ten  stamps  upon  the  entire  book,  or  rather 
upon  the  early  history  of  Israel  recorded  in  the  book, 
the  character  of  completeness."  ^ 

The  seal  of  ten  was  impressed  not  only  on  the  creation, 
but  on  the  covenant  between  Jehovah  and  the  Hebrews, 
of  which  the  ten  commandments  were  the  foundation 
and  witness.  The  summary  of  the  law  consisted  of 
"  ten  words,"  ^  corresponding  in  number  to  the  ten 
words  by  means  of  which  all  things  were  created.  To 
one  who  knows  only  modern  habits  of  thought,  it  may 
seem  that  there  was  no  designed  reference  to  the 
number  ten  in  the  construction  of  the  decalogue  ;  but  no 

1  Keil  :  Comm.  on  Pentateuch.     Edinburgh,  1869.     Vol.  i.  p.  36. 

2  Exod.  xxxiv.  28 ;   Deut.  x.  4,  margin. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NUMBER  AND  FORM.  205 

ancient  nation  would  have  failed  to  discover  significance 
in  the  fact  that  the  commandments  were  no  more  and 
no  less  than  ten. 

Tithes,  though  common  to  all  the  nations  anterior 
to  the  time  of  Moses,  were  expressly  enjoined  in  the 
theocracy.  The  armies  of  Israel  were  arranged  in 
decades  ;  so  that  there  were  captains  of  tens,  of  hundreds, 
and  of  thousands.  When  there  was  occasion  to  speak 
of  any  composite  unit  made  up  of  elementary  units,  ten 
was  the  number  employed  to  represent  it ;  as,  for 
example,  the  ten  horns  in  the  Book  of  Daniel  and  in  the 
Apocalypse. 

The  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  is,  that  the 
Hebrews,  in  common  with  other  ancient  nations,  asso- 
ciated with  ten  the  idea  of  the  wholeness  of  any  object 
which  consisted  of  parts,  and  employed  it  particularly  as 
the  signature  of  the  world  in  its  entirety.  What  we 
mean  when  we  say  the  whole  world,  they  intended  when 
they  stamped  upon  what  they  said,  concerning  the  world, 
the  number  ten. 

*  XII. 

Twelve  was  so  evidently  used  by  Moses  as  the 
signature  of  the  Hebrew  people,  that  we  need  not  dwell 
long  on  the  proof.  When  the  covenant  between  Jehovah 
and  the  people  was  ratified  at  Sinai,  twelve  pillars 
represented  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.^  The  breast- 
plate of  the  high-priest  contained  twelve  gems,  each 
inscribed  with  the  name  of  one  of  the  twelve  sons  of 
Jacob.2  Twelve  loaves  of  bread  were  placed  on  the 
table  in  the  holy  place  every  sabbath  day.^ 

1  Exod.  xxiv.  4.  2  Exod.  xxviii.  21.  8  Lev.  xxiv.  5. 

iS 


2o6  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

But,  while  there  can  be  no  disagreement  respecting 
the  symboHsm  of  twelve,  there  is  room  for  difference  of 
opinion  in  regard  to  the  ground  of  its  significance.  At 
first  thought,  one  is  ready  to  believe  that  its  election  to 
be  the  numerical  symbol  of  the  covenant  people  resulted 
from  the  accident  that  there  were  no  more  and  no  less 
than  twelve  sons  in  the  family  of  Jacob.  But  when  we 
consider  that  the  number  is  constantly  and  carefully 
adhered  to,  the  two  half  tribes  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh 
being  reckoned  as  two  tribes  in  any  computation  in 
which  Levi  cannot  properly  appear,  and  as  one  tribe 
when  Levi  is  counted,^  we  shall  perhaps  conclude,  that  if 
Jacob  had  begotten  eleven  or  thirteen  sons,  instead  of 
twelve,  the  tribal  arrangement  would  nevertheless  have 
been  made  according  to  the  number  twelve.  When  we 
remember  that  the  New  Testament  shows  the  same 
careful  adherence  to  twelve  in  the  number  of  the  apostles, 
one  being  added  to  the  eleven  after  the  apostasy  of  Judas, 
and  twelve  being  always  the  signature  of  the  college  of 

1  In  the  enrolment  at  Sinai,  and  also  in  that  made  in  the  plains  of  Moab,  of  men 
liable  to  military  duty,  Ephraim  and  Manasseh  were  counted  as  two  tribes ;  the 
tribe  of  I-evi  being  exempt  on  account  of  their  duty  to  the  sanctuary.  Stanley 
(Jewish  Church,  Second  Series,  p.  450  et  scq.)  has  graphically  shown  that,  though 
not  enrolled,  they  sometimes  rendered  efficient  service  as  volunteers.  In  the 
encampment,  Ephraim  and  Manasseh  were  also  reckoned  as  two  tribes  ;  Levi  occu- 
pying the  ground  immediately  contiguous  to  the  tabernacle  enclosure,  and  therefore 
not  available  as  one  of  the  twelve  which  in  four  triads  must  form  the  square  within 
which  Jehovah  dwelt  and  reigned.  But  in  the  dying  benediction  of  Moses  (Deut. 
xxxiii.),  as  in  that  of  Jacob  (Gen.  xlix.),  Levi  occupies  his  place  as  one  of  the 
twelve,  while  the  name  of  Joseph  appears  instead  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh.  So 
in  Ezekiel  (xlviii.),  Ephraim  and  Blanasseh  are  counted  as  two  tribes  when  the 
division  of  the  restored  Canaan  is  the  theme,  but  are  reckoned  as  only  one  when 
in  the  same  chapter  the  twelve  gates  of  the  restored  Jerusalem  are  mentioned.  In 
the  Apocalypse  also  (vii.  5-8)  the  twelve  is  carefully  adliered  to  by  the  mention 
of  Levi  and  Joseph  as  representatives  of  tribes  in  the  enumeration  of  those  who 
were  sealed. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NUMBER  AND  FORM.  207 

apostles,  even  when  by  the  calling  of  Paul  it  consisted 
of  thirteen,  the  weight  of  evidence  is  augmented.  The 
fact  that  twelve  is  associated  with  the  promise  that 
Ishmael  should  become  a  nation,^  and  again  with  the 
record  that  the  promise  was  fulfilled,^  adds  something 
more  to  the  proof.  It  is  alleged  in  addition  that  heathen 
nations  originally  divided  their  territory,  if  not  their 
population,  into  twelve  parts  to  correspond  to  the  divis- 
ions of  the  zodiac.^  Even  the  model  republic  of  Plato 
was  conformed  in  its  equal  segments  to  the  ideal  twelve.'* 
If,  then,  twelve  was  the  ecumenical  signature  of  a 
nation,  so  that  Jacob's  family  must  be  conformed  to  it 
by  addition  or  subtraction  in  case  his  sons  had  been 
more  or  less  than  this  number,  the  question  respecting 
the  ground  of  this  significance  remains  unanswered. 
There  is  still  room  for  difference  of  opinion :  some 
deriving  the  usage  from  the  custom  among  the  heathen 
of  conforming  their  institutions  to  the  features  of  nature, 
according  to  which  they  divided  a  country,  as  they 
believed  the  heavens  were  divided,  into  twelve  parts  ;  and 
others  from  numerical  speculations  similar  to  those  by 
which  we  have  endeavored  to  explain  the  significance  of 
other  numbers.  We  have  already  intimated  our  belief 
that  these  speculations  are  older  than  the  divisions  of  the 
zodiac  ;  and  for  this  reason,  as  well  as  on  account  of 
the  very  decided  antagonism  evident  in  Mosaism  to  any 
remnant  of  an  astronomical  religion,^  accept  the  theory 

1  Gen.  xvii.  20.  2  Gen.  xxv.  16. 

3  Balir :  Symbolik,  vol  i.  p.  203  et  seq.  4  Plato  :  De  Legibus,  vi.  758. 

5  Probably  the  only  allusion  in  the  Old  Testament  to  the  twelve  signs  of  the 
zodiac  is  in  the  account  of  the  reformation  of  religion  by  King  Josiah,  who  put 
down  the  idolatrous  priests  that  burned  incense  "  to  the  sun,  and  to  the  moon,  and 
to  the  twelve  signs,  and  to  all  the  host  of  heaven "  (2  Kings  xxiii.  5,  marginal 
reading). 


2o8  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

which  traces  the  significance  of  twelve  to  philosophical 
speculation.  What  were  the  particular  processes  of 
thought  which  determined  the  significance  of  twelve,  it 
may  be  impossible  to  learn  ;  but  it  does  not  seem  incredi- 
ble that  in  the  time  of  the  patriarchs  men  should  have 
reasoned  as  fancifully  as  Augustine  did,  who  thought  that 
the  number  of  the  tribes  of  Israel  and  of  the  apostles 
was  significant  because  the  parts  of  seven  —  that  is,  three 
and  four — multiplied  together  produce  twelve.^ 

But,  in  whatever  way  twelve  acquired  its  symbolic 
power,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that,  where  the  estab- 
lished religion  was  a  cosmical  pantheism,  this  number 
was  the  symbol  of  a  country  spread  out  toward  the  four 
points  of  the  compass,  and  enjoying  the  favor  of  the 
gods,  and  that  in  Mosaism  it  symbolized  the  Hebrew 
people  as  a  nation  divinely  organized  and  governed.^ 

1  De  Civitate  Dei,  xv.  20.    See  also  Sermo  III.  on  Ps.  cxiii 

2  Readers  who  are  especially  interested  in  the  symbolism  of  number  are 
referred  to  monographs  by  Kurtz  (Die  symbolische  Dignitat  der  Zahlen  an  der 
Stiftshiitte)  in  Studien  und  Kritiken,  1844;  by  Kliefoth  (Die  Zahlensymbolik 
der  heiligen  Schrift)  in  Theologische  Zeitschrift,  Schwerin,  1S62  ;  by  Leyrer  (Zahlen 
bei  den  Hebraem,  in  Hertzog's  Real-Encyklopadie ;  and  by  Hadley  (The  Number 
Seven)  in  the  New  Englander,  1S58,  and  reprinted  in  Essays  Philological  and  Critical, 
New  York,  1873, 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SYMBOLISM    OF    COLOR. 

The  symbolism  of  color  in  the  tabernacle  was  confined 
to  the  curtains  of  the  edifice  and  the  garments  of  its 
priesthood,  both  of  which  were  of  fine-twined  linen, 
blue,  purple,  and  crimson.  The  four  colors  here  indi- 
cated all  inhered  in  the  same  material  subjected  to 
different  processes  of  manufacture ;  the  fine  thread  of 
the  byssus  being  in  one  process  bleached  to  the  greatest 
possible  whiteness,  and  in  the  other  three  dyed  with 
blue,  purple,  and  crimson. 

That  white  linen  was  employed  as  a  symbol,  appears 
from  many  passages  of  the  New  Testament  where  its 
significance  is  declared  and  explained.  It  was  a  repre- 
sentative of  light,  resembling  it  somewhat  in  color,  ^  but 
more  in  brightness^  and  purity.^  In  the  realm  of 
spiritual  ideas,  it  was  the  synonyme  of  light  itself 
employed  as  a  symbol.  For  example :  the  garment  of 
white  in  which  the  Ancient  of  Days  was  clothed  when 
Daniel  saw  him  in  vision,  *  seated  on  his  throne  of  fire, 
was  equivalent  to  the  verbal  metaphor,  God   is   light, 

l  Matt.  xvii.  2.  2  Luke  ix.  29,  xxiv.  4 ;  Mark  ix.  3. 

3  Rev.  xix.  8,  14 ;  xv.  6.  *  Dan.  vii.  9. 

18*  209 


210  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

whatever  that  may  signify.  No  other  interpretation  of 
the  white  garment  will,  in  this  case,  be  consistent  with 
the  remaining  imagery  of  the  vision.  The  passage  which 
speaks  of  it  is,  as  the  English  translators  believed, 
parallel  with  one  in  the  Book  of  Psalms,  in  which 
Jehovah  is  said  to  cover  himself  with  light  as  with  a 
garment.^  "The  garments  of  the  transfigured  Christ  are 
said  by  Matthew  to  have  been  "  white  as  the  light ; "  ^  and 
Mark  declares  that  they  "  became  shining,  exceeding 
white  as  snow,  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth  can  white 
them."  ^  But  light,  as  well  as  whiteness,  is  both  splendid 
and'  pure.  Either  symbol  may  represent  either  idea  as 
its  chief,  but  not  as  its  only  meaning.  The  light  in 
which  God  clothes  himself  is  splendid,  but  it  is  also 
pure.  He  is  holy,  but  he  is  also  glorious.  The  light 
symbolizes  him  as  glorious  in  his  holiness,  or  as  pure  in 
his  unapproachable  and  dazzling  splendor,  whichever 
idea  may  for  the  time  be  most  prominent. 

White  raiment  is  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures  as  a 
symbol  appropriate  not  only  to  God  and  the  angels,  but 
to  holy  men  ;^  in  which  case  the  leading  and  prominent 
idea  is  necessarily  that  of  ethical  purity,  though  the 
element  of  splendor  is  not  wanting  ;  for  there  is  in  all 
true  holiness,  however  devoid  of  position  and  power,  a 
glory  which  dazzles  or  rejoices  the  beholder  according  as 
he  is  himself  a  child  of  darkness,  or  of  light. 

The  writer  of  the  Apocalypse,  in   his  description    of 
the  marriage  of  the  Lamb,  defines  the  significance  of  the. 
white  robes  in  which  the  bride  was  attired.     He  says  in 
so  many  words,  "  The  fine  linen  is  the  righteousness  of 
saints."  ^     Holiness  is  in  this  case  the  principal  idea,  as 

1  Ps.  civ.  2.     2  Matt.  xvii.  2.     3  Mark  ix.  3.     4  Rev.  xix.  8,  vii.  14.     5  Rev.  xix.  S. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  COLOR.  2il 

it  always  is  an  idea  inseparable  from  white  raiment 
employed  as  a  religious  symbol.  Holiness,  then,  is 
signified  by  white  linen,  wherever  found  in  the  tabernacle. 
Whether  it  relates  to  God  or  to  man,  the  symbol  repre- 
sents purity,  and  its  accompanying  splendor  ;  the  latter  so 
great  in  the  holiness  of  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  as  to  be 
an  important  element  in  the  composite  idea,  but  less 
conspicuous  in  the  derived  holiness  of  his  covenant 
people.  Moses  himself  informed  us  what  the  fine-twined 
linen  denoted,  when  he  termed  the  white  apparel,  in 
which  the  high-priest  officiated  at  the  annual  expiation, 
"  the  holy  garments."  ^ 

The  Hebrew  word  rendered  bhie  is  primarily  the 
name  of  a  shell-fish,  and  derivatively  of  the  dye  yielded 
by  it.  As  the  word  is  nowhere  in  the  Old  Testament 
affixed  to  any  of  the  hues  of  nature,  we  look  in  vain  to 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures  for  aid  in  determining  whether 
it  is  correctly  rendered  "  blue,"  and,  if  so,  what  shade  of 
that  color  it  represents.  Its  equivalent  in  the  Septua- 
gint  is  a  word  applied  by  the  ancients  to  the  clear 
firmament  and  the  deep  sea.  Philo  and  Josephus  agree 
with  the  Septuagint  in  the  selection  of  a  Greek  equiva- 
lent, and  testify  that  the  color  intended  is  that  of  the 
sky.2  We  are  to  understand,  however,  a  darker  sky  than 
that  of  New  England  or  Old  England ;  for  in  the  lands 
of  the  Bible  the  atmosphere  is  clearer,^  and  the  firma- 
ment .consequently  deeper  and  darker,  than  in  moister 
climates.     There   are  days  when  even  in  northern  lati- 

1  Lev.  xvi.  4,  32. 

2  Philo :  De  Vita  Mosis,  liber  III.    Josephus  :  Antiq,,  liber  III.  c.  vu  §  4. 

3  Thomson  :   The  Land  and  the  Book,  vol.  i.  p.  1 7. 


212  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

tudes  the  transparency  of  the  sky  seems  to  extend  to  an 
infinite  depth,  as  if  it  were 

"  No  domain 
For  fickle,  short-lived  clouds  to  occupy 
Or  to  pass  through  ;  but  rather  an  abyss 
In  which  the  everlasting  stars  abide, 
And  whose  soft  gloom  and  boundless  depth  might  tempt 
The  curious  eye  to  look  for  them  by  day." 

The  fact  that  the  ancients  attributed  the  same  hue 
both  to  the  firmament  and  to  the  sea,  also  indicates  that, 
when  speaking  of  the  heavens  as  blue,  they  had  in  mind 
a  very  dark  shade  of  that  color,  such  as  is  reflected  from 
the  peculiarly  saline  waters  of  the  Mediterranean.^ 

The  color,  then,  being  a  deep  cerulean,  or  marine,  it 
is  said  that  the  Egyptians  painted  or  clothed  with  it  the 
images  of  those  gods  who  ruled  in  the  firmament,  or 
controlled  the  sea.^ 

There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  blue  found  in 
the  Mosaic  institutions  ever  referred  to  water,  or  that 
Moses  had  any  occasion  to  symbolize  that  element.  It 
is,  however,  to  be  presumed  that,  in  the  pictorial  repre- 
sentation of  the  system  of  truth  he  was  commissioned 
to  teach,  he  would  need  something  to  suggest  the  idea 
of  heaven  as  a  place  where  God  reveals  himself  more 
fully  than  on  earth ;  and,  if  so,  what  would  he  more  natu- 
rally employ  than  the  color  of  heaven  as  visible  from 
the  earth.-*  —  this  being  a  sign  whose  symbolism  was 
founded  in  nature,  and  established  in  usage. 

1  Nejy  American  Cyclopedia,  art.  Mediterranean.  See  also  in  Andrews'  Latin 
Lex.,  Caeruleus. 

2  Eusebius  :  Praeperatio  Evangelica,  iii.  ii ;  Creuzer,  iv.  595 ;  and  Jer.  x.  9. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  COLOR.  213 

If  he  would  represent  that  Jehovah,  whose  dwelHiig  is 
in  heaven,  had  come  down  to  earth  to  dwell  with  his 
covenant  people,  how  could  he  do  it  better  than  by 
employing  in  the  habitation  made  with  hands  the  azure 
hue  of  the  visible  heaven  ?  If  he  wished  to  teach  that 
the  priests,  and  the  sacrifices  they  offered,  were  an 
"  example  and  shadow  of  heavenly  things,"  ^  how  perti- 
nent would  it  be  to  weave  into  their  official  attire  threads 
of  that  cerulean  tint,  which  in  his  day  communicated 
such  thoughts  to  the  eye  as  are  now  conveyed  to  the 
ear  by  the  audible  pronunciation  of  the  word  heaven  ! 

We  find  in  the  Scriptures,  outside  of  the  symbolic 
institutions  established  by  Moses,  and  even  outside  of  all 
representations  given  through  human  instrumentality, 
some  instances  in  which  God  made  symbolic  use  of  the 
color  under  consideration ;  and  in  these  instances  its 
correspondence  with  heaven  as  the  object  symbolized  is, 
if  possible,  even  more  evident  than  when  employed  by 
Moses. 

When  the  covenant  was  ratified  at  Sinai,  Moses, 
Aaron,  and  seventy  of  the  elders  of  Israel,  by  divine 
direction  ascended  the  mountain,  and,  apart  from  the 
mass  of  their  brethren,  were  favored  with  a  vision  of 
Jehovah.  "  They  saw  the  God  of  Israel :  and  there  was 
under  his  feet  as  it  were  a  work  of  clear  ^  sapphire,  and 
as  it  were  the  body  of  heaven  in  its  clearness,"  ^  The 
word  sapphire  is  the  same  in  the  original  Hebrew  as  in 
English,  so  that  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  these 

1  Heb.  viii.  5. 

2  Gesenius  defines  the  word  which  the  Enghsh  version  renders  paved  as  equiva- 
lent io  clear:  T\\jl,  from  HJ^V)  (^/^fl^w^w,  and  not  from  nJ5'»  a  baick. 

8  Exod.  xxiv.  icw 


2  14  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

chosen  representatives  of  the  covenant  nation  saw  in  their 
vision  a  blue  color  under  the  feet  of  Jehovah  like  that  of 
the  gem  still  called,  as  it  was  then,  sapphire  —  a  color  still 
further  described  by  Moses  as  similar  to  the  body  of 
heaven  in  its  clearness.  That  this  gem  was  selected 
purposely,  and  with  discrimination,  to  illustrate  the  glory 
which  accompanied  the  God  of  Israel  in  his  descent 
from  heaven,  is  evident  from  its  recurrence  in  a  parallel 
instance  of  later  date.  In  the  vision  which  opens  the 
Book  of  Ezekiel,  the  sapphire  is  again  employed  to 
represent  the  heavenly  glory  of  Jehovah ;  but  it  is  not, 
as  in  Exodus,  a  floor  of  this  translucent  blue  under  his 
feet  that  is  seen,  but  a  throne  of  sapphire  on  which  he 
sits  exalted  over  four  cherubic  symbols  of  his  redeemed 
creation.! 

What  can  the  blue  gem  employed  in  these  two 
tableaux  indicate,  but  that  the  God  who  thus  revealed 
himself  on  Sinai  and  by  the  River  Chebar,  was  an 
inhabitant  and  a  king  in  heaven,  as  distinguished  from 
earth,  that  he  lived  and  reigned  in  the  beautiful  expanse 
which  glows  like  sapphire  over  our  heads  .-*  If  this  be 
the  symbolic  significance  of  the  gem,  its  meaning  must 
be  due  to  its  color  ;  and  the  same  color  must  have  the 
same  meaning  when  produced  by  the  art  of  the  dyer  as 
when  found  in  nature. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  blue  in  the  tabernacle  is  the 
chromatic  signature  of  heaven,  or  of  heavenliness,  and 
that  symbols  tinged  with  this  color  represent  things 
which  in  their  origin  or  nature  are  heavenly. 

Cloth  of  purple  was  much  prized  by  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  who  included    under   this    appellation   a  wide 

1-  Ezek.  i.  26,  X.  i. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  COLOR. 


215 


range  of  color,  extending  from  red  slightly  tinged  with 
blue  to  shades  in  which  the  blue  was  predominant ;  the 
dye  being  in  all  cases  derived  from  shell-fish.  From 
this  habit  of  comprising  under  purple  all  shades  that 
can  be  produced  by  mixing  red  and  blue,  it  resulted,  in 
the  first  place,  that  this  appellation  was  given  to  fabrics 
closely  resembling  in  color  the  cerulean  of  the  clear 
firmament  ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  that  this  cerulean 
blue  was  confounded  by  some  modern  scholars  with 
purples  containing  a  large  admixture  of  red.^ 

Many  shades  of  purple  having  been  produced  by  the 
art  of  the  dyer  in  the  stage  of  advancement  it  had 
reached  at  the  time  of  the  Roman  emperors,  there  was 
perhaps  as  much  diversity  in  the  value  as  in  the  color  of 
the  cloths  manufactured.  All  purples  of  the  sea,  as 
those  derived  from  shell-fish  began  to  be  called  after 
counterfeit  purples  from  vegetable  dyes  had  made  their 
appearance,  were  esteemed,  but  some  much  more  than 
others  by  reason  of  their  peculiar  gorgeousness,  espe- 
cially those  changeable  fabrics  which  with  every  move- 
ment of  the  cloth  reflected  a  new  style  of  splendor. 
Some  fashions  were  much  costlier  than  others  for  the 
reason  that  the  liquid  in  which  they  were  dyed  was 
obtained  from  a  species  of  shell-fish  yielding  it  in  very 
minute  quantities,  while  others  could  be  produced  from 
a  different  species  affording  a  much  larger  supply. 

Several  cities  on  or  near  the  eastern  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  were  celebrated  for  the  manufacture  of 
cloth  of  purple,  each  having  its  specialty.  Of  these. 
Tyre  and  Thyatira  should  be  here  mentioned  ;  the  latter 
because  allusion  is  made  in  the  New  Testament  to  its 

1  For  a  disentanglement  of  the  confusion,  see  Bahr :  Symbolik,  vol.  i.  p.  305. 


2l6  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

trade  in  purple,^  and  the  former  because  its  fabric  is 
so  frequently  mentioned  in  Latin  literature,  and  with  so 
high  commendation  of  its  beauty.^ 

In  the  earlier  days  of  Rome,  purple  had  been  worn 
only  by  magistrates  as  a  badge  of  office  ;  but  the 
progress  of  wealth  and  luxury  was  afterward  so  great, 
that  the  first  of  the  emperors  thought  it  necessary  to 
put  restriction  on  the  use  of  it  in  order  to  preserve 
the  significance  of  the  ancient  symbol.^  Still  more 
stringent  decrees  were  issued  by  emperors  of  later  date, 
till  certain  fabrics  of  this  color,  including  those  held  in 
highest  estimation,  were  entirely  interdicted  to  the 
Roman  citizen,  and  reserved  for  the  exclusive  use  of 
the  imperial  household.* 

In  the  employment  of  purple  as  a  mark  of  official 
distinction,  the  Romans  followed  the  custom  of  some,  if 
not  all  older  nations.  The  king  of  Ithaca,  if  we  may 
believe  Homer,  wore  a  mantle  of  this  color  at  the  siege 
of  Troy ;  ^  the  kings  of  Midian  were  clothed  in  purple 
raiment  when  slain  by  the  Hebrews  under  Gideon.^ 
The  Chaldean  king,  Belshazzar,  offered  to  any  one  who 
would  interpret  for  him  the  fearful  writing  on  the  wall, 
that  he  should  be  the  third  ruler  in  the  kingdom,  and 
wear  purple  and  gold  as  appropriate  insignia  of  his  high 
position.''' 

Not  only  kings,  emperors,  and  their  subordinates  in 
civil  authority,  wore  this  color,  but  sometimes  priests,  as 
a   mark  of  honor  to  their  office  and  the  deities  whom 


1  Acts  xvi.  14.       2  Andrew's  Latin  Lex.,  Tyrius.         3  Suetonius,  Cjes.  43. 

4  Dion  Cassius  Cocceianus,  xlix.  i5,  Ivii.   13.     Suetonius,  Nero,  32.    Gibbon, 
Decline  and  Fall.  ch.  xl.  §  iii. 

5  Odyssey,  xix.  225.        6  Judg.  viii.  26.        T  Dan.  v.  7,  margin. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  COLOR.  217 

they  served.^  Even  the  images  of  the  gods  were 
adorned  with  raiment  of  purple.^ 

What,  now,  can  we  learn  from  these  customs  of  other 
ancient  nations  respecting  the  import  of  purple  among 
the  Hebrews  ? 

It  must  have  been  with  them,  as  with  their  contem- 
poraries and  neighbors,  a  mark  of  distinction  suggesting 
the  idea  of  royal  majesty  and  authority.  Its  appearance 
in  the  curtains  of  the  tabernacle  marked  that  central 
edifice  as  the  habitation  of  the  Ruler  of  the  encampment. 
The  purple  in  the  garments  of  the  priests  indicated  that 
they  belonged  to  the  royal  household,  and  were  officers 
of  the  King. 

The  two  Hebrew  words  which  taken  together  are 
rendered  "  scarlet "  in  the  authorized  version,  denote  a 
color  derived  from  an  insect  called  by  naturalists 
coccus  ilicis,  found  in  large  quantities  on  certain  species 
of  the  oak.  The  Arabic  name  of  the  insect  is  kernies, 
the  root  of  our  word  crimson.  The  dye  was  therefore  a 
crimson,  rather  than  a  scarlet,  red.^  The  only  natural 
object  to  which  the  tint  is  applied  in  the  Old  Testament 
is  the  lips.*  Philo  says  it  is  "  similar  to  fire  because 
each  is  red ; "  ^  Josephus  speaks  of  it  as  a  natural 
emblem  of  fire ;  ^  and  Pliny  describes  it  as  a  gay,  lively, 
bright  red,  approaching  the  color  of  fire.'' 

1  Braun  :  Vestitus  Sacerdotum  Hebraeorum,  lib.  I.  p.  216. 

2  Jer.  X.  9  ;  Baruch  vi.  12,  71. 

8  A  scarlet  dye  is  now  procured  from  the  coccus  cacti,  or  cochineal  of  commerce 
(which  is  similar  to,  and  has  superseded  the  coccus  ilicis)  by  adding  to  it  a  solution 
of  tin  in  muriatic  acid.  But  this  modification  of  the  natural  tint  is  a  modem 
discovery.     See  Beckmann's  History  of  Inventions. 

4  Song  of  Solomon  iv.  3.  6  De  Vita  Mosis. 

6  Antiq.  III.  vii.  §  7.  T  Hist.  Nat.  ix.  65  and  xxi.  22. 

19 


2i8  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

In  Hebrew  usage,  the  specific  name  which  the  color 
derived  from  the  insect  is,  with  few  exceptions,  apphed 
only  to  thread  or  cloth.  If  there  be  no  other,  there  is  at 
least  one  exception,  namely,  in  the  passage,  "Though 
your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow ; 
though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool,"^ 
where  the  prophet  divides  the  two  words  which  ordinarily 
denote  the  insect  dye,  using  one  in  the  first,  and  the  other 
in  the  second  clause.  Commonly  the  Hebrews  employ 
the  more  generic  adavi  to  signify  red ;  but  that  the  name 
of  the  insect  dye  when  applied  to  cloth  was  synonymous 
with  adam,  is  evident  from  the  passage  quoted  above 
from  Isaiah,  where  sins  are  characterized  as  red  like 
crimson. 

It  being  settled  that  the  fourth  sacred  color  of  Mo- 
saism  was  crimson,  we  are  prepared  to  seek  for  its 
significance  by  a  comparison  of  cases  in  which  it  was 
used  as  a  symbol  or  figure.  We  will  first  examine 
instances  where  the  peculiar  tint  of  the  coccus  is 
specified,  and  afterward  some  in  which  red  is  mentioned 
without  specification. 

The  earliest  mention  of  the  coccus  is  in  the  record  of 
the  birth  of  Zarah  and  Pharez,  twin  sons  of  Judah,  born 
in  Canaan  before  the  Israelites  went  down  to  Egypt. 
A  thread  of  crimson  was  used  to  mark  the  elder  of  the 
twins.^ 

In  the  ritual  prescribed  by  Moses  for  the  cleansing  of 
the  leper,  two  birds  alive  and  clean,  cedar-wood,  crimson 
of  the  coccus,  and  hyssop,  having  been  provided,  one  of 
the  birds  was  killed  over  living  water ;  and  the  living 
bird,    the    cedar-wood,   the    crimson,    and    the    hyssop 

1  Isa.  i.  18.  2  Gen.  xxxviii.  28. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  COLOR.  219 

having  been  dipped  in  the  blood  of  the  bird  slain  over 
living  water,  the  living  bird  was  set  at  liberty,  and  the 
leper  was  sprinkled  seven  times  with  the  mixture  of 
blood  and  water  in  which  these  symbols  had  been 
dipped.^ 

When  the  water  of  separation  was  prepared,  by  means 
of  which  persons  defiled  by  contact  with  a  dead  body 
might  be  purified  of  their  uncleanness,  and  restored  to 
fellowship  with  Jehovah  and  the  covenant  people,  the 
crimson  of  the  coccus  was  an  ingredient  joined  with 
cedar-wood  and  hyssop,  as  in  the  lustration  of  the  leper.^ 

A  line  of  crimson  thread  was  given  by  the  spies  of 
Joshua  to  Rahab,  with  directions  to  suspend  it  from  the 
window  of  her  house  over  the  city-wall,  as  their  pledge 
that,  in  the  destruction  of  Jericho,  she  should  be 
preserved  alive.^ 

From  this  comparison  of  cases,  it  seems  probable  that 
the  crimson  of  the  coccus  was  a  symbol  of  life.  In  the 
case  of  the  twins,  the  thread  marked  the  first-born,  and 
proved  his  right  of  primogeniture.  In  the  ritual  for 
cleansing  a  leper,  the  "  two  birds  alive  and  clean  "  were 
natural  emblems  of  the  restoration  of  one  who  as  a 
leper  had  been  unclean,  and  excluded  from  personal  and 
from  representative  participation  in  the  services  of  the 
sanctuary.  The  blood  of  the  slain  bird  was  a  symbol  of 
the  blood  or  life  of  a  man,  which  he  had  forfeited,  and 
paid  by  his  substitute  ;  *  and  the  release  of  the  other 
represented,  even  to  an  inexperienced  eye,  the  restor- 
ation of  the  leper  to  the  freedom  and  fellowship  of  the 
people  of  God ;  or,  in  other  words,  to  life  in  the  sense  of 
membership  in  the  holy  community  over  which  Jehovah 

1  Lev.  xiv.  4-7.        2  Num.  xix.  6.        3  Josh.  ii.  18.        4  Lev.  xvii.  11. 


220  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

reigned.  The  dipping  of  the  live  bird  in  the  blood  of 
the  other  could  signify  nothing  else  than  the  lustration 
of  its  principal  by  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  the  life 
which  had  been  taken  :  the  addition  of  pure  water  and 
hyssop,  both  well-established  symbols  of  purification, 
added  emphasis  to  the  ceremony.  What,  then,  was  the 
import  of  the  two  remaining  symbols,  —  the  cedar-wood 
and  the  crimson  .''  Cedar,  as  oi^e  of  the  most  durable  of 
woods,  was  a  fit  emblem  of  the  continuance  of  life : 
crimson,  by  its  resemblance  to  the  color  of  health  and 
vital  energy,  was  equally  appropriate  as  a  symbol  of  life 
in  its  fulness  and  vigor.  Such  must  be  its  meaning 
when,  in  the  Song  of  Solomon,  the  lips  of  the  bride  are 
said  to  be  like  a  thread  of  crimson.  The  significance  of 
this  color,  as  an  ingredient  in  the  water  of  separation, 
was  doubtless  the  same  as  in  the  lustration  of  a  leper. 
The  application  of  it  to  a  person  who,  by  contact  with  a 
corpse,  had  been  brought  into  rapport  with  death,  was 
a  sign  that  he  was  now  restored  to  fellowship  with  the 
living  and  life-giving  Jehovah.  The  line  of  crimson 
thread  suspended  from  the  window  of  Rahab  was  to  her, 
and  to  the  investing  host  of  Hebrews,  a  symbol,  as  well 
as  a  pledge,  of  life. 

We  are  not  unmindful  that  the  examples  here  pre- 
sented to  illustrate  the  symbolic  meaning  of  crimson 
prove,  if  they  prove  any  thing,  that  it  symbolized  life  in 
different  senses.  In  the  first  and  last  of  the  instances 
cited,  the  crimson  had  reference  to  natural  life,  and  in 
the  others  to  that  figurative  life  which  was  equivalent 
to  participation  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  But,  if  life 
was  used  in  these  two  different  senses,  that  which 
stood  for  it  in  one   would   naturally  and   appropriately 


SYMBOLISM  OF  COLOR.  2«I 

Stand  for  it  in  the  other  plane  of  thought.  Indeed,  the 
two  senses  are  so  graded  one  into  another  in  Mosaism, 
that,  in  most  cases  where  hfe  is  spoken  of  as  forfeited,  it 
makes  but  little  difference  whether  one  understands 
natural  or  theocratic  life  ;  since,  if  either  were  forfeited, 
the  forfeiture  of  the  other  would  be  involved  as  a  neces- 
sary consequence. 

We  proceed  now  to  the  examination  of  cases  in 
which  a  red  color  other  than  that  of  the  coccus,  or  not 
specifically  described  as  such,  appears  to  represent  life. 

An  example  of  this  is  found  in  the  Book  of  Lamenta- 
tions, where  Jeremiah  speaks  of  the  princes  of  Jerusalem 
as  "whiter  than  milk,  and  more  ruddy  in  body  than 
rubies."  ^  Another  is  in  the  Song  of  Solomon,  where  the 
bridegroom  is  described  as  white  and  ruddy.^  In  the 
same  book,  the  bride  is  said  to  have  not  only  lips  like  a 
thread  of  crimson,  but  cheeks  like  pieces  of  pomegran- 
ate.^ The  fruit  here  mentioned  is  round  and  rosy;  so 
that  not  only  "the  crimson  lips,  but  the  cheeks,  which 
could  be  likened  to  segments  of  pomegranate,  were 
tokens  of  life  in  the  fulness  of  its  vigor. 

The  Hebrew  word  adani,  the  proper  name  of  tjie  first 
man,  and  the  common  name  of  all  men,  was,  according 
to  Gesenius,  derived  from  the  verb  adajji,  to  be  red. 
According  to  the  same  authority,  doin,  signifying  blood, 
is  also  from  the  verb  adain.  Such  a  relationship  of 
words  indicates  a  tendency  in  the  Hebrew  mind  to 
conceive  of  man  in  his  normal  or  ideal  state  as  red,  and 
to  attribute  this  redness  of  his  complexion  to  the  blood 

1  Lam.  iv,  7.  The  word  which  the  English  translators  rendered  Nazarites,  is 
probably  equivalent  in  this  place  to  princes.    See  Gesenius'  Lex. 

2  Song  of  Solomon  v.  10.  8  ibid.  iv.  3. 

19* 


2  22  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

as  the  vital  force.  It  is  not  necessary  to  our  purpose  to 
inquire  in  what  sense  they  regarded  the  blood  as  equiva-^ 
lent  to  the  life ;  whether  as  identical  with  it,  or  as  its 
vehicle,  and  visible  representative.^  The  blood  was 
certainly  the  soul,  or  life  in  such  a  sense  that  they  might 
not  with  propriety  eat  it,  and  were  accordingly  forbidden 
to  do  so.^  This  prohibition,  moreover,  was  not  peculiar 
to  Mosaism,  but  had  been  in  force  from  the  time  of 
Noah ;  ^  and  the  physiological  theory  on  which  the 
prohibition  rested  was  not  held  by  the  Hebrews  alone, 
for  the  opinion  prevailed  extensively,  if  not  universally 
throughout  the  ancient  world,  that  the  blood  of  an 
animal  is  its  life.^ 

Such  views  of  the  blood  would  naturally,  in  any 
system  of  symbolization,  occasion  the  use  of  it  as  a 
visible  representative  of  life,  and  might  even  lead  to  the 
employment  of  the  red  color  as  its  synonyme.  Accord- 
ingly, the  Mosaic  code  speaks  of  the  blood  of  animals 
presented  on  the  altar  as  atoning  for  the  soul,  or  life  of 
the  offerer  (which  of  course  it  could  do  only  representa- 
tively or  symbolically,  for  it  is  not  possible  that  the 
blood. of  bullocks  and  of  goats  should  really  take  away 
sin)  ;  and,  when  it  gives  the  specifications  of  an  animal 
to  be  used  in  the  lustration  of  a  person  defiled  by 
contact  with  death,  it  requires  that  the  victim  shall  be 
not  only  without  spot  or  blemish,  as  all  sacrifices  must 
be,  but  of  the  female  or  life-producing  sex,  of  vital  power 
undiminished  by  subjection  to  the  yoke,  and  of  a  red 


1  This  question  is  discussed  at  length  in  Delitzsch's  Biblical  Psychology.   Edin* 
burgh,  1849.     P.  281  et  scq. 

2  Lev.  xvii.  10.  3  Gen.  ix,  4. 

*  Virgil's  iEneid,  ix.  349  :  Purpiu-eam  vomit  ille  animam. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  COLOR. 


223 


color,  as  an  outward  reflex  of  the  red  life  within.  "  Just 
as  in  man  the  vital  energy  of  the  blood  is  manifested  in 
the  red  cheeks  and  lips,  and  in  the  flesh-colored  redness 
of  the  skin,  so  in  the  red  cow  the  blood  was  regarded 
as  possessing  such  vigor  that  it  manifested  itself 
outwardly  in  the  corresponding  color.  The  red  hue  of 
the  cow  was  a  characteristic  sign  of  its  fulness  of  life, 
and  fitted  it  to  become  an  antidote  of  the  power  of 
death."  1 

To  this  interpretation  of  red,  the  passage,  "  Though 
your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow ; 
though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool,"  ^ 
appears,  at  first  sight,  strongly  opposed.  It  has  been 
customary  to  understand  the  scarlet  and  the  crimson, 
here  mentioned,  as  chromatic  emblems,  and  to  use  this 
text  for  a  key  to  the  interpretation  of  red  as  a  symbol  of 
guilt.  Usage  has  now  well  established  such  a  relation, 
at  least  as  respects  blood-guiltiness  ;  but  there  is  nothing 
in  the  literature  of  the  Hebrews  to  indicate  that  they 
regarded  redness  as  a  symbol  of  murder,  or  of  guilt  in 
general,  unless  found  in  the  place  under  consideration. 
But  this  passage,  when  critically  examined,  affords  no 
evidence  that  the  red  color  in  general,  or  the  coccus 
crimson  in  particular,  is  the  sign  of  sin  ;  for  another 
meaning  is  possible,  which  satisfies  all  the  requirements 
of  the  context,  and  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  symbolic 
significance  of  the  color  as  determined  by  other  passages. 
The  crimson  of  the  coccus  was  a  very  deep,  bright 
color ;  so  that  it  may  have  been  the  difficulty  of  effacing 

1  Kurtz :  Sacrificial  Worship  of  the  Old  Testament,  p.  427.  See  also  Keil : 
Comm.  on  Num.  xix.  2-10. 

2  Isa.  i.  18. 


224  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

it,  rather  than  the  color  itself,  which  gave  emphasis  to 
the  language  Jehovah  employed  to  characterize  the  sins 
of  his  people. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  the  fourth  of  the  sacred  colors 
of  Mosaism  represented  life  ;  deriving  this  significance 
from  blood,  which  was  itself  the  vehicle  and  represen- 
tative of  the  vital  force. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SYMBOLISM    OF    MINERALS. 

We  have  now  to  learn  the  significance  of  various 
substances  from  the  realm  of  nature  found  in  the 
symbolism  of  the  tabernacle.  We  take  up  first  those 
which  belong  to  the  mineral  kingdom.  The  list  includes 
salt,  gold,  silver,  copper,  and  twelve  different  kinds  of 
gems. 

Salt  was  in  ancient  times,  and  is  even  now  in  the 
Orient,  a  pledge  of  fidelity  in  friendship,  so  that  "  to  eat 
bread  and  salt  together  is  an  expression  for  a  league  of 
mutual  amity  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Persian  term 
for  traitor  is  nemekharain,  faithless  to  salt."  ^  Hence 
"  covenant  of  salt "  is  equivalent  to  inviolable  engage- 
ment in  the  passage  where  God  says  to  Aaron,  "■  All  the 
heave-offerings  of  the  holy  things,  which  the  children  of 
Israel  offer  unto  the  Lord,  have  I  given  thee,  and  thy 
sons  and  thy  daughters  with  thee,  by  a  statute  forever : 
it  is  a  covenant  of  salt  forever  before  the  Lord  unto  thee 
and  to  thy  seed  with  thee;"^  and  also  in  the  passage, 
where  the  king  of  Judah  says  to  Jeroboam  and  his 
adherents,  "  Ought  ye  not  to  know  that  the  Lord  God  of 
Israel  gave  the  kingdom  over  Israel  to  David  forever, 
even  to  him  and  to  his  sons  by  a  covenant  of  salt .'' "  ^ 

1  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary,  art.  Salt.        2  Num.  xviii.  ig.        3  2  Chron.  xiii.  5. 

225 


226  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

This  idea  of  fidelity  proceeds  from  the  preservative 
quaUties  of  the  symbol,  which  caused  it  to  signify  incor- 
ruptibleness,  or  imchangeableness,  on  the  higher  plane  of 
the  spirit,  as  well  as  on  the  lower  level  of  earthly  things  ; 
and  it  was,  doubtless,  as  a  sign  of  faithful  adherence 
to  an  engagement  that  both  the  Hebrews  ^  and  the 
heathen  ^  added  salt  to  every  sacrifice,  whether  of  animal 
or  vegetable  substances,  that  was  offered  on  their  altars. 

Gold,  silver,  and  jewels,  have  in  all  ages  and  in  all 
countries  been  regarded  as  significant  of  wealth,  rank, 
and  power.  The  use  of  the  precious  metals  for  money 
has,  however,  rendered  it  impossible  that  they  should 
exert  in  modern  times  as  much  influence  on  the  imagi- 
nation as  when  used  only  as  insignia.  It  is  quite  certain 
that  in  the  time  of  Moses  gold  had  not  been  coined,  and 
was  not  often  used,  even  by  weight,  as  a  medium  of 
exchange.  It  always  had  been,  and  still  was,  reserved, 
as  jewels  are  now,  to  adorn  the  persons  and  dwellings  of 
the  wealthy,  and  furnish  badges  of  distinction  for  persons 
of  rank.  When  Joseph  was  elevated  to  a  place  of  honor 
and  power  inferior  only  to  that  of  the  monarch,  Pharaoh 
arrayed  him  in  vestures  of  fine  byssus,  and  put  a  gold 
chain  about  his  neck.  When,  in  later  times,  another 
Hebrew  slave  rose  to  high  rank  in  a  Gentile  nation, 
becoming  the  third  ruler  in  the  kingdom  of  the 
Chaldeans,  the  servants  of  Belshazzar,  at  his  command, 
clothed  Daniel  in  purple,^  and  "  put  a  chain  of  gold 
about  his  neck,"  uniting  the  two  symbols  to  illustrate 
the  high  position  to  which  he  was  advanced.  It  was  a 
golden  sceptre  which  the  king  of  Persia  extended  to  the 

1  Lev.  ii.  13.  2  Pliny  xxxi.  41.  S  Dan.  v.  7,  margin. 


SYMBOUSM  OF  MINERALS.  227 

trembling  queen  who  had  forfeited  her  life  by  intruding 
uncalled  into  his  presence,  as  a  pledge  that  the  power  of 
life  and  death  represented  by  the  sceptre  should  be 
exerted  in  her  behalf. 

Gold  was  also  used  by  the  heathen  in  the  manufacture 
of  images  of  their  principal  gods ;  inferior  deities  being 
represented  by  less  precious  materials,  as  silver,  copper, 
iron,  wood,  and  stone.^  In  many  cases  where  the  surface 
of  the  idol  was  of  gold,  the  metal  was  only  a  thin  sheet 
laid  over  a  shape  of  wood.^  Sometimes,  however,  images 
of  even  colossal  height  were  wholly  of  gold,  the  plate 
being  so  thick  as  to  need  no  wood  for  its  support. 
Diodorus  Siculus  mentions  three  statues  of  beaten  gold 
in  the  temple  of  Belus  at  Babylon,  the  smallest  of  which, 
weighing  eight  hundred  Babylonian  talents,  contained  at 
least  twice  as  much  gold  as  was  deemed  sufficient  for 
the  Hebrew  tabernacle  and  all  the  golden  vessels  of  its 
ministry.  The  same  precious  metal  served  also  to  gild 
the  walls  of  heathen  temples,  and  furnished  the  material 
for  tables,  bowls,  cups,  and  other  sacred  utensils. 

There  is  a  warrant  in  nature,  as  well  as  in  the  universal 
custom  of  antiquity,  for  this  employment  of  the  most 
splendid  of  the  metals  to  illustrate  the  highest  possible 
dignity  and  glory ;  for  it  never  fails  to  excite  in  the 
mind  of  the  beholder  feelings  of  admiration  and  awe. 
Even  in  modern  times,  though  it  has  to  some  extent  lost 
by  excessi\'e  use  its  power  of  symbolization,  gold  suggests 
wealth  and  power.  Much  more  impressive  must  it  have 
been  in  the  early  ages,  when  it  had  not  been  used  as 
money,  and  in  countries  where  very  few  were  able  to 
possess    the    smallest    ornaments    of    so  rare    material 

1  Dan.  V.  4.  2  isa.  xl.  19  ;  Jer.  x.  4 ;  Hab.  ii.  19. 


228  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

Hence,  as  an  emblem,  it  was  among  metals  what  purple 
was  among  colors,  and  found  its  most  appropriate  place 
on  the  persons  and  in  the  habitations  of  kings  and  gods. 

The  dedication  of  a  large  amount  of  gold  to  the  service 
of  religion  was,  therefore,  not  peculiar  to  the  Hebrews. 
It  was  the  universal  custom  of  the  age  thus  to  do  homage 
to  the  objects  of  worship.  But,  as  Mosaism  allowed  no 
images  of  Jehovah,  the  symbolism  of  gold  must  be  con- 
fined to  his  habitation  and  its  furniture.  It  is  worthy  of 
observation,  then,  that  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  dwelt  in 
a  golden  house.  If,  as  we  believe,  the  innermost  curtain 
hung  down  on  the  outside  of  the  wooden  frame,  the 
interior  of  the  dwelling  reflected  everywhere  from  its 
walls  the  splendor  of  gold  to  represent  that  the  highest 
honor  was  due,  and  was  rendered,  to  the  occupant.  The 
furniture  of  the  holy  habitation  was  also,  without  excep- 
tion, golden.  In  some  articles  there  was  wood  beneath 
an  exterior  plate  of  metal,  to  give  adequate  strength 
without  excessive  weight  ;  but  otherwise  all  utensils 
within  the  sanctuary,  even  to  the  snuffers  and  snuff- 
dishes  for  trimming  the  lamp-wicks,  were  wholly  of  pure 
gold,  to  symbolize  as  emphatically  as  possible  the  majesty 
of  Jehovah. 

If  the  tabernacle  of  Jehovah  was  splendid  by  contrast 
between  it  and  the  ordinary  tents  of  the  surrounding 
encampment,  it  seems  to  have  been  designedly  rendered 
still  more  splendid  by  the  ordained  distinction  between 
the  tabernacle  and  its  court.  For  while  the  walls  of  the 
dwelling,  and  all  its  utensils,  were  of  gold,  so  that  with 
the  exception  of  the  sill  (of  which  we  shall  have  occa- 
sion to  speak  hereafter)  no  other  metal  was  visible 
within,  the  furniture  of  the  court  must,  according  to  the 


SYMBOLISM  OF  MINERALS. 


229 


specifications  furnished  to  Moses,  be  of  copper.  The 
only  exception  to  this  requirement  was  founded  in  a 
reason  which  allowed  wood  beneath  the  gold  in  the  ark 
of  the  covenant,  the  altar  of  incense,  and  the  table  of 
show-bread.  The  altar  of  the  court,  so  far  as  relates  to 
its  appearance  and  symbolism,  was  of  metal ;  but,  that  it 
might  not  be  too  heavy  for  transportation,  the  copper 
was  laid  on  in  thin  sheets  over  wood. 

The  significance  of  copper  seems  to  depend  chiefly  on 
its  rank  among  the  metals,  being  more  esteemed  than 
iron,  and  less  so  than  silver  and  gold.^  As  a  metal  of 
honor  and  beauty,  it  was  an  appropriate  material  for  the 
utensils  of  divine  service,  and  by  its  inferiority  to  gold 
furnished  a  background  on  which  the  latter  seemed 
more  splendid  by  contrast.  Its  resemblance  to  gold 
deepened  the  symbolic  significance  conveyed  by  the 
exclusive  use  of  one  of  the  metals  in  the  court,  and  of 
the  other  within  the  habitation. 

Between  the  copper  outside  and  the  gold  inside  of  the 
house,  silver  was  the  mediating  metal ;  being  found  both 
in  the  sill  of  the  sanctuary,  and  on  the  caps  of  the  pil- 
'lars  around  the  sacred  enclosure,  to  indicate  by  another 
sign  that  the  house  was  higher  in  honor  than  the  area  in 
front,  —  so  much  higher  that  its  sill  was  of  the  same 
material  as  the  crowning  ornament  of  the  court. 

Silver  was  at  that  time  in  common  use  as  money ;  if 
not  in  the  shape  of  coin,  certainly  of  bullion,  which,  when 
weighed,  was  current  with  the  merchant.^  Now,  this 
silver  which  had  been  wrought  partly  into  the  sill  of  the 
tabernacle,  and  partly  into  the  caps  of  the  pillars  around 
the  court,  had  been  used  as  money.     Indeed,  it  came 

1  Dan.  V.  4;  Isa.  Ix.  17.  2  Gen.  xxiii.  16. 


230  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

into  the  possession  of  Moses  in  half-shekels  which  the 
people  had  paid  as  "  atonement  money,"  "  every  man  a 
ransom  for  his  soul."  ^  There  is  a  record  of  free-will 
offerings  of  silver,  but  none  of  the  use  of  any  other 
silver  in  the  construction  of  the  edifice  than  the 
ransom-money ;  and  the  amount  of  this  being  given  with 
exactness,  and  the  several  sums  used  for  the  sill-pieces  and 
for  the  pillars  of  the  court  with  their  hooks  and  connect- 
ing rod,  when  added,  corresponding  in  amount  with  the 
aggregate  yield  of  the  tax,  one  is  shut  up  to  the  conclu- 
sion that,  however  the  silver  of  the  free-will  offerings 
was  used,  it  did  not  enter  into  the  construction  of  the 
edifice.^  It  is  evident  that  the  silver  which  thus  medi- 
ated between  the  copper  of  the  court  and  the  gold  of 
the  edifice,  consisted  wholly  of  the  money  paid  by  the 
males  of  the  congregation  from  twenty  years  old  upward 
for  their  ransom.  The  services  of  the  court  culminated 
in  redemption  ;  and  not  till  they  were  redeemed  could 
the  people,  even  representatively,  enter  the  sanctuary. 
The  shining  silver  on  the  top  of  the  pillars  of  the 
enclosure  was  "  a  memorial  to  the  children  of  Israel 
before  Jehovah  to  make  an  atonement  for  their  souls,"  ^* 
i.e.,  a  permanent  reminder  that  their  sins  were  expi- 
ated ;  and  the  sill  of  the  sanctuary,  into  which  the 
greater  part  of  the  ransom-money  had  been  molten,  was 
a  token  that  in  consequence   of  their  redemption  God 

1  Exod.  XXX.  12,  16. 

2  The  only  utensils  of  silver  mentioned  are  twelve  chargers  and  twelve  bowls, 
which  were  a  special  offering  at  the  dedication,  and  two  silver  trumpets.  So  far  as 
appears,  the  silver  contributed  at  the  commencement  of  the  work,  be  it  more  or 
less,  was  not  used  in  the  construction  of  the  edifice,  or  its  furniture.  Of  course 
the  artisans  who  gave  their  time  and  skill  to  the  work  must  have  been  paid  out  of 
the  public  treasury,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  they  were  paid  in  silver. 

3  Exod.  XXX.  16. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  MINERALS.  231 

dwelt  among  them,  and  received  them  to  his  fellowship. 
The  silver,  "  as  an  expiation  for  souls,  pointed  to  the 
unholiness  of  Israel's  nature,  and  reminded  the  people 
continually  that  by  nature  it  was  alienated  from  God, 
and  could  only  remain  in  covenant  with  the  Lord,  and 
live  in  his  kingdom,  on  the  ground  of  his  grace  which 
covered  its  sin."  ^  May  not  the  apostle  have  had  this 
ransom-money  in  mind  when  he  said  to  the  people  of 
the  new  covenant,  "  Ye  were  not  redeemed  with  corrupt- 
ible things,  as  silver  and  gold,  but  with  the  precious 
blood  of  Christ"?  2 

The  precious  stones,  as  well  as  the  precious  metals, 
have  always  been  employed  as  badges  of  distinction. 
As  in  modern  Europe  the  crown-jewels  are  insignia 
of  supreme  rank  and  power ;  so,  in  the  despotisms  of 
antiquity,  costly  gems  of  different  kinds  were  worn  by 
the  monarch,  either  habitually  or  on  special  occasions,  as 
expressive  signs  of  his  supremacy. 

Twelve  different  species  of  gems  were  employed  in 
the  symbolism  of  the  tabernacle  to  represent  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel.  .  It  is  reasonable  to  infer  from  the 
particularity  with  which  the  specifications  not  only 
require  that  the  stones  should  be  of  twelve  different 
kinds  and  should  be  engraven  each  with  the  name  of  a 
tribe,  but  determine  what  kinds  were  to  be  used  and  in 
what  order  they  were  to  be  arranged,  that  each  had 
some  special  significance  appropriate  to  the  tribe  whose 
name  it  bore  ;  but,  if  so,  this  correspondence  between 
the  several  tribes  and  their  respective  symbols  cannot 
now  be  discovered.     The  sacred  text  does  not  definitely 

1  Keil,  Comm.  on  Pentateuch,  vol.  ii.  p.  212.  2  i  Peter,  i.  18,  19. 


232  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

determine  how  the  names  of  the  tribes  are  to  be  placed 
so  that  they  may  correspond  with  the  arrangement  of 
the  stones.  They  are  sometimes  mentioned  in  the 
order  in  which  they  marched  and  encamped;  at  other 
times  there  is  reference  to  the  different  mothers  of  the 
sons  of  Jacob,  those  of  the  same  mother  being  brought 
together  ;  and,  according  to  a  third  method,  the  names 
stand  in  the  order  in  which  the  twelve  patriarchs  were 
born.  As  the  latter  mode  is  specified  for  the  names 
with  which  the  two  onyx-stones  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
high-priest  were  to  be  engraven,  it  is  highly  probable 
that  the  same  rule  governed  the  collocation  of  the 
names  which  the  same  official  bore  on  his  heart.  But, 
even  if  this  were  established  beyond  question,  the 
difficulty  remains  that  some  of  the  stones  cannot  be 
identified  with  certainty  by  their  Hebrew  names.  We 
must  content  ourselves  with  learning  the  significance  of 
these  gems  taken  collectively.  The  most  natural  inter- 
pretation, in  view  of  the  universal  usage  of  antiquity 
continued  in  some  degree  even  to  our  own  time,  is  that 
they  denote  regal  rank. 

At  present,  we  can  only  allege  that  this  is  the 
meaning  of  jewels  by  the  common  consent  of  the  world. 
In  the  sequel,  we  shall  find  that  such  an  interpretation 
justifies  itself  by  the  harmonious  and  complemental 
relation  with  other  symbols  which  it  attributes  to  jewels 
in  the  only  place  in  which  they  occur,  namely,  in  the 
insignia  of  the  high-priest. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SYMBOLISM  OF  VEGETABLE  SUBSTANCES. 

The  symbols  of  the  tabertiacle  derived  from  the 
vegetable  kingdom  are  acacia,  cedar,  hyssop,  flour,  wine, 
oil,  spices  of  different  kinds,  pomegranates,  and  almonds. 

Of  the  two  sorts  of  timber  which  stand  at  the  head 
of  this  list,  the  latter  was  used  only  in  rites  of  purifica- 
tion, and  therefore  in  small  quantity.  We  have  already 
explained  it  as  being  by  its  comparative  incorruptibility  a 
signature  of  life.^  When  the  Hebrews,  many  generations 
later  in  their  history,  erected  a  stationary  and  permanent 
sanctuary  at  Jerusalem,  cedar  was  used  to  cover  the 
walls  of  the  edifice  on  the  interior  surface,  fulfilling  thus 
the  same  office  as  the  acacia  in  the  tabernacle.  Both 
having  extraordinary  durability,  either  might  be  employed 
to  represent  that  idea;  and,  as  they  were  equally 
beautiful,  the  question  which  of  the  two  should  be  elected 
might  be  determined  by  considerations  of  convenience. 
Acacia,  easily  procured  in  the  vicinity  of  Sinai,  was  by 
its  small  specific  gravity  preferable  to  cedar  for  the 
portable  sanctuary  of  the  wilderness  :  on  the  other  hand, 
cedar  could  be  conveniently  obtained  by  Solomon  from  the 
Phoenicians  in  exchange  for  the  productions  of  Palestine, 
and  was  as  little  liable  to  decay  as  acacia.     The  substi- 

1    p.  220. 
20*  233 


234  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

tution  of  cedar  for  acacia,  because  more  conveniently 
obtained,  goes  to  show  that  they  were  both  significant 
by  reason  of  the  durability  which  belonged  to  them  in 
common  ;  and  the  most  natural  interpretation  of  this 
capacity  to  resist  corruption  would  make  it  indicate  the 
idea  of  life. 

The  justness  of  this  interpretation  is  confirmed  when 
we  refer  to  the  two  cases  where  cedar-wood  is  used  in 
the  strictly  Mosaic  institutions  ;  namely,  in  the  lustra- 
tion of  lepers,  and  of  persons  defiled  by  contact  with  a 
dead  body.  In  both  these  instances,  the  ceremonial 
evidently  represents  the  restoration  of  a  man  to  life, 
who,  as  respects  the  theocracy,  was  once  alive,  but  is 
now  dead.  The  kingdom  of  God  among  the  Hebrews 
was  a  kingdom  of  life,  from  which  the  leper,  and  the 
person  defiled  by  contact  with  a  dead  body,  were  cut  off. 
Having  been  thus  excluded  from  the  privileges  of  the 
kingdom  as  if  dead  to  it,  they  were  restored  to  partici- 
pation in  them  by  the  prescribed  lustration.  The  bit  of 
cedar-wood,  added  to  the  other  symbols  by  which  such  a 
revivification  was  represented,  must  be  of  concurrent 
and  cumulative  significance.  It  must  have  been 
designed  to  hold  up  to  view  one  element  in  life,  as  the 
crimson  of  the  coccus  represented  another. 

Hyssop,  an  aromatic  shrub  ^  used  in  applying  the 
liquid  prescribed  for  the  removal  of  impurity,  scarcely 
needs  explanation.  It  was  with  the  Hebrews,  and  per- 
haps with  other  ancient  nations,  an  emblem  of  purifica- 
tion.    This  office  may  have  been  assigned  it  on  account 

1  Probably  a  species  of  origanum  or  marjoram.  See  the  article  "  Hyssop  "  in 
Smith's  Bible  Dictionary. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  VEGETABLE  SUBSTANCES.       235 

of  its  agreeable  aroma,  so  antagonistic  to  the  offensive 
odor  proceeding  from  disease  and  death.  The  writer  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  understood  that  Moses  used 
this  shrub,  when  the  covenant  was  ratified  at  Sinai,  in 
sprinkling  the  people  and  the  manuscript  copy  of  the 
mutual  engagement  ;  though  hyssop  is  not  mentioned  in 
the  original  record  of  the  transaction.  It  was  specifi- 
cally prescribed  as  a  necessary  item  in  the  ceremonial 
for  cleansing  lepers,  and  those  who  had  touched  a  dead 
body.  It  was  employed  by  King  David  in  a  penitential 
psalm,^  as  a  symbol  deeply  laden  with  the  idea  of 
purgation. 

Corn  and  wine,  being  associated  in  their  symbolic  use 
and  significance,  need  not  be  separately  interpreted. 

Agriculture,  including  grazing  and  tillage,  having  been 
appointed  as  the  principal  business  of  the  Hebrews  in 
the  land  of  Canaan,  symbols  derived  from  both  branches 
were  woven  into  that  system  of  outward  signs,  of  which 
the  tabernacle  was  the  theatre.  In  the  next  chapter  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  speak  of  flocks  and  herds  ;  but  at 
present  we  have  to  do  only  with  the  products  of  tillage. 
Corn  and  wine  were  the  principal  fruits  of  this  department 
of  industry.  Acquired  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  in  that 
calling  which  God  had  appointed  as  the  chief  business 
of  his  life,  these  results  of  the  husbandman's  diligence 
stood  for  the  results  of  the  entire  work  of  his  life,  as  a 
part  may  stand  for  the  whole.  Other  fruits  of  tillage 
might  perhaps  have  been  added  for  the  expression  of 
this  idea,  but  for  one  peculiarity  which  renders  corn 
and  wine   eminently  expressive.     These   substances,  as 

1  Ps.  u.  7. 


236  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

employed  in  the  symbolism  of  sacrifice,  were  not  merely 
products  of  agriculture  ;  for,  after  the  earth  had  brought 
the  corn  and  the  grapes  to  maturity,  much  additional 
labor  had  been  expended  in  the  manufacture  of  the 
wheat  into  bread,  and  of  the  grapes  into  wine.  The 
symbols  chosen  were  not  fruits  of  spontaneous  growth, 
nor  raw  products  of  husbandry,  but  articles  manufactured 
with  skill  and  industry  out  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  and 
for  that  reason  more  apt  for  representing  the  results  of 
human  labor. 

Proceeding  a  step  further  in  the  examination  of  these 
substances,  we  find  that,  if  cattle  are  left  out  of  account, 
corn  and  wine  were  to  be  not  only  the  principal  fruits 
of  Hebrew  industry,  but  also  the  staple  articles  of  food. 
This  fact  suggests  the  possibility  that  they  may  have 
been  selected  as  symbols  to  be  offered  on  the  altar,  with 
the  intention  that  they  should  represent  the  results  of 
labor  in  the  form  of  enjoyment  as  well  as  of  property. 
The  Hebrew  not  only  possessed  but  enjoyed  the  corn 
and  wine  for  which  he  had  wrought ;  and  the  offering  of 
them  on  the  altar  was  an  expression  of  desire  to  receive 
his  covenant  God  into  fellowship  with  himself  in  the 
enjoyment  of  that  which  the  corn  and  wine  symbolized. 

What,  then,  would  the  Hebrews  naturally  understand 
these  results  of  labor  to  represent  in  the  sphere  of  reli- 
gious thought .''  Their  earthly  vocation  was  to  produce 
corn  and  wine  ;  but  they  had  a  higher  calling  as  the 
people  of  the  covenant,  namely,  to  bring  forth  in  their 
lives  the  fruits  of  righteousness.  Such  results  of  labor 
in  the  field  of  their  high  calling  would  enrich  them  with 
durable  riches,  and  "  put  gladness  in  their  hearts  more 
than  in  the  time   that  their   corn   and  their   wine  was 


SYMBOLISM  OF  VEGETABLE  SUBSTANCES.       237 

increased."  ^  The  diligent  and  successful  laborer  would 
have  greater  enjoyment  in  these  fruits  of  holiness  than 
the  husbandman  in  the  edible  produce  of  the  earth. 

Moreover,  these  results  of  the  work  of  life  in  the  field 
of  ethics,  when  laid  on  the  altar  of  God,  would  give  joy 
to  him,  as  well  as  to  those  who  had  wrought  to  procure 
them.  "  With  such  sacrifices  God  is  well  pleased."  ^ 
The  symbols  which  represented  them  he  speaks  of  as  "  my 
bread  ;"'^  and  the  holiness  of  the  joriests  is  illustrated 
by  the  repeated  mention  of  them  in  the  law  as  "  offering 
the  bread  of  their  God."  ^  This  bread  of  God  was  partly 
consumed  on  the  altar,  and  partly  eaten  by  the  priests 
within  the  enclosure  of  the  sanctuary  ;  the  fellowship 
between  Jehovah  and  the  priestly  nation  appearing  in 
this  joint  participation  which  symbolized  the  pleasure 
both  experienced  in  the  holiness  of  the  peculiar  people. 
Even  a  priest  who  by  reason  of  bodily  defect  could  not 
come  nigh  to  offer  the  bread  of  his  God  was  admitted  to 
this  participation.  "  He  shall  eat  the  bread  of  his  God, 
both  of  the  most  holy,  and  of  the  holy  :  only  he  shall  not 
go  in  unto  the  veil,  nor  come  nigh  unto  the  altar."  ^ 

It  ought  not  to  be  offensive,  that  according  to  this 
interpretation  the  fruits  of  sanctification  are  conceived 
of  as  the  bread  of  God,  since  he  himself  has  sanctioned 
that  method  of  speaking  of  the  symbols  ;  and,  if  it  is  not 
too  anthropomorphic  to  speak  of  the  corn  and  wine 
offered  on  the  altar  as  the  bread  of  God,  certainly  it  is 
not  irreverent  to  apply  to  the  true  bread  of  which  they 
were  the  figure  the  same  appellation,  or  to  conceive  of  it 

1  Ps.  iv.  7.  2  Heb.  xiii.  16. 

8  Num.  xxviii.  2.  4  Lev.  xxi.  6,  8,  17,  21. 

6  Levi.  xxi.  22,  23. 


238  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

as  in  some  sense  the  food  of  Jehovah.  Besides,  it  is 
the  enjoyment,  rather  than  the  nutrition,  ministered  by- 
food,  which  is  shadowed  forth  by  the  symbols.  They 
represent  the  results  of  sanctification,  the  joy  a  man 
experiences  in  that  measure  of  improvement  of  which 
he  is  conscious.  Now,  if  services  of  worship,  and  works 
of  charity,  are  sacrifices  with  which  God  is  well  pleased, 
they  are  as  truly  means  of  enjoyment  to  him  as  to  those 
who  render  them,  and  may  without  impropriety  be 
termed  the  bread  of  God  in  the  same  figurative  sense  in 
which  they  are  called,  in  reference  to  man,  the  bread  of 
life. 

Accordant  with  this  interpretation  is  the  discourse  of 
our  Lord  recorded  by  John,  in  which  he  says,  "  Labor 
not  for  the  meat  which  perisheth,  but  for  that  meat 
which  endureth  unto  everlasting  life."  ^  Work,  he 
means,  not  for  corn  and  wine,  but  for  holiness.  And  he 
counsels  them,  when  they  inquired  how  they  should 
direct  their  efforts,  to  believe  in  him  ;  since  he,  and  he 
alone,  could  impart  to  them  this  bread,  being  the  only 
source  from  which  men  could  receive  sanctification. 

Olive-oil,  another  important  product  of  Palestine,  is 
found  in  the  symbolism  of  the  tabernacle.  In  domestic 
life,  it  answered  three  different  purposes.  It  was  to  the 
Hebrews,  as  butter  is  to  us,  a  palatable  ingredient  or 
accompaniment  of  bread ;  it  illuminated  their  dwellings 
with  its  flame ;  it  supplied  what  an  arid  climate 
rendered  very  desirable,  an  agreeable  and  salubrious 
unguent  for  the  skin. 

In  correspondence  with  these  three  methods  of  secular 

1  John  vi.  27. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  VEGETABLE  SUBSTANCES.      239 

use,  the  oil  of  the  olive  served  as  a  religious  symbol, 
being  applied,  when  mixed  with  certain  spices,  as  a 
chrism  both  to  persons  and  things ;  furnishing  fuel  for 
the  lamps  of  the  holy  place ;  and  accompanying,  or  enter- 
ing as  an  ingredient  into,  every  offering  of  bread  which 
was  laid  on  the  altar.  This  threefold  use  suggests,  at 
first  thought,  three  separate  sources  of  symbolic  signifi- 
cance ;  but  a  longer  study  discloses  a  common  root  from 
which  the  three  symbolic  uses  of  the  same  substance 
have  originated. 

Oil  of  unction  must  have  derived  its  significance  as  a 
religious  symbol  from  the  effect  it  produced  on  the  body 
when  used  in  common  life.  Rendering  the  skin  soft, 
smooth,  and  shining,  its  influence  was  not  merely 
superficial,  but  invigorating  to  the  whole  system,  pene- 
trating even  to  the  bones. ^  It  diminished  the  evaporation 
of  the  fluids  of  the  body,  from  which  those  who  dwell 
in  hot  and  dry  countries,  and  wear  but  little  clothing,  are 
liable  to  suffer.^  It  rendered  the  joints  more  supple, 
and  the  muscles  more  responsive  to  the  vital  force,  and 
thus  imparted  new  strength  for  the  duties  of  life.  Such, 
at  least,  was  and  still  is  the  opinion  of  the  Orientals, 
who  are  better  qualified  to  judge  of  the  effect  of  such 
an  application  of  oil  to  the  skin,  in  a  region  where 
the  heat  is  sometimes  intense  and  protracted,  than  the 
inhabitants  of  more  northern  regions.  This  use  of  oil 
was,  however,  by  no  means  confined  to  the  hottest 
season  of  the  year.  Custom  rendered  it  so  agreeable, 
that  the  Hebrews  practised  it  daily,  and  omitted  it  only 
in  times  of  mourning. 

1  Ps.  cix.  18. 

2  K.  Niebuhr's  Description  of  Arabia,  quoted  in  Kitto's  Cyclopsedia  in  the 
article,  Anointing.  Livingstone's  Travels  in  South  Africa.  New  York,  1S70. 
P.  122. 


240  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

Anointing,  as  a  symbolic  transaction,  may  signify, 
then,  that  the  person  to  whom  the  oil  is  applied  is 
refreshed  and  strengthened  by  some  spiritual  gift 
imparted  to  him;  and  this  meaning  agrees  with  the 
context,  and  meets  all  the  exigencies  of  the  case  when- 
ever one  is  inducted  into  an  office  by  means  of  this 
ceremony.  To  anoint  a  priest  or  a  king  was  to  convey  to 
him  sacramentally  the  help  of  the  Spirit  of  God  for  the 
discharge  of  his  official  duty.  The  official  designation 
of  the  person  whom  the  Hebrews  expected  to  come,  and 
unite  in  himself  the  threefold  function  of  prophet,  priest, 
and  king,  was  The  Anointed.  The  prophet  declares 
the  nature  of  this  anointing  when  he  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  the  expected  Messiah  the  words,  "  The  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  God  is  upon  me,  because  Jehovah  hath 
anointed  me;"^  and  Jesus  himself,  when  in  the  syna- 
gogue at  Nazareth  he  appropriated  the  words  as  his  own 
utterance  anticipatively  reported  by  Isaiah,  did  by  that 
very  act  claim  not  only  to  be  The  Anointed,  but  to  be 
anointed  with  the  Holy  Spirit.^  The  New  Testament, 
moreover,  affirms  in  so  many  words  tjjiat  "  God  anointed 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with 
power."  ^ 

The  application  of  the  anointing  oil  to  the  tabernacle 
and  its  furniture  does  not  militate  against  such  an 
interpretation  ;  for  the  ceremony  signified  that,  as  God 
imparted  his  Spirit  to  persons  that  they  might  be  strong 
for  the  work  to  which  he  called  them,  so  to  these 
institutions  that  they  might  be  efficient  to  accomplish 
the  end  for  which  they  were  established.  The  ceremony 
was  not  without  meaning  when  applied  to  things  as  well 

1  Isa.  Ixi.  I.  2  Luke  iv.  i8.  8  Acts  x.  38. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  VEGETABLE  SUBSTANCES.      241 

as  persons,  though  its  significance  was  secondary,  and 
was  derived  from  the  custom  of  anointing  the  body  to 
render  it  a  more  efficient  instrument  of  the  will. 

Anointing  oil  being,  then,  a  symbol  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
received  from  God,  and  penetrating  the  whole  man  to 
refresh  and  invigorate  him  for  work,  the  question  arises, 
whether  oil  used  otherwise  than  for  anointing  had,  so 
far  as  the  oil  itself  is  concerned,  the  same  significance, 
and  differed  from  the  oil  of  unction  only  as  it  was 
differently  employed. 

There  seems  to  be  no  reason  for  disbelieving  that  oil 
for  illumination  had  the  same  symbolic  power  as  anoint- 
ing oil.  The  lamps  in  the  tabernacle  when  supplied  with 
it  gave  a  permanent  and  sufficient  light,  but  without  such 
supply  could  do  nothing  to  dissipate  the  darkness :  so 
the  people  of  God  shine  as  lights  in  the  world  only  by 
reason  of  the  constant  influence  upon  them  of  his  Spirit. 

At  first  thought,  it  may  seem  as  if  a  different  meaning 
must  be  given  to  oil  mingled  with  or  poured  upon  food- 
offerings  from  that  which  we  have  attributed  to  it  when 
used  for  anointing  or  for  burning.  Some  have  contended 
that,  being  one  of  the  food-products  of  the  soil,  it  had 
exactly  the  same  significance  as  corn  and  wine,  concur- 
ring with  them  to  represent  the  fruits  of  holiness 
produced  by  the  diligence  of  God's  people.  But  if  the 
oil  was  an  accompaniment,  rather  than  an  integral  part 
of  the  food-offering,  it  is  more  natural  to  adhere  to  that 
interpretation  which  has  already  been  justified  in  refer- 
ence to  two  out  of  the  three  methods  in  which  oil  was 
symbolically  employed.  The  reasons  for  believing  that 
the  oil  was  a  significant  accompaniment,  rather  than  an 
essential  element  of  the  food-offering,  will  be  given  when 


242  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE, 

we  come  to  the  interpretation  of  sacrifices  :  at  present 
only  one  is  alleged,  namely,  that  such  a  hypothesis 
enables  us  to  give  a  uniform  significance  to  oil  through- 
out the  Mosaic  institutions. 

If,  then,  corn  and  wine  without  oil  might  represent 
food,  what  was  the  significance  of  the  oil  added  to  these 
substances  to  make  them  more  palatable  when  presented 
as  the  bread  of  God  ?  It  must  mean,  if  interpreted  as 
in  the  other  methods  of  using  it,  that  the  only  bread 
which  would  be  acceptable  to  God,  or  could  be  offered  on 
his  altar,  must  be  produced  with  the  aid  of  his  Spirit. 
In  whatever  way  the  oil  was  added,  whether  kneaded 
into  the  flour,  or  poured  on  the  cakes  after  they  were 
cooked,  the  addition  of  it  signified  that  the  grace  of  God 
must  unite  with  the  labor  of  man  in  the  work  of  sancti- 
fication,  and  that  it  was  the  joint  product  of  these  two 
spiritual  forces  which  the  worshipper  laid  on  the  altar 
as  the  bread  of  God. 

Perfumes  were  much  esteemed  by  the  Hebrews,  as 
well  as  by  other  Orientals,  both  ancient  and  modern. 
Being  composed  chiefly  of  spices,  we  include  the  con- 
sideration of  them  in  this  chapter,  although  one  of  the 
four  ingredients  of  the  perfume  prepared  for  fumigating 
the  holy  place  was  derived  from  the  animal  kingdom. 
With  this  exception,  the  perfumes  mentioned  in  Scrip- 
ture consist  of  vegetable  substances.  They  were  used 
both  for  fumigation,  and,  when  mixed  with  oil,  for  unction. 
The  preparation  of  them  was  a  special  profession,^ 
requiring  instruction  and  experience  for  the  attainment 
of  skill  ;    and  sometimes  the  materials  employed  were 

1  Exod.  X.XX.  25,  35  ;  Eccl.  x.  i. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  VEGETABLE  SUBSTANCES.      243 

such  as  could  be  procured  only  in  small  quantities,  and 
must  be  brought  from  remote  countries.  The  best 
perfumes,  consequently,  were  expensive  ;  a  small  package, 
which  might  be  spent  in  a  single  application  to  one 
person,  costing  sometimes  nearly  or  quite  fifty  dollars.^ 

Both  these  species  of  perfume  were  employed  not  only 
in  the  luxury  of  private  life,  but  in  the  symbolism  of 
religion.  The  fragrance  of  four  precious  spices  was 
imparted  to  the  oil  with  which  the  tabernacle  and  its 
priests  were  consecrated,  distinguishing  it  from  the  pure 
oil  used  in  anointing  a  person  recovered  from  leprosy. 
The  incense  burned  in  the  holy  place  was  a  compound 
prepared  by  adding  three  other  odorous  substances,  two 
of  them  vegetable,  and  the  third  the  operculum  of  a 
shell-fish,  to  the  raw  frankincense  offered  in  the  court. 
The  eight  different  substances  thus  employed  need  not 
be  separately  named  and  studied,  since  it  does  not  appear 
that  the  fragrance  they  produced  differed  in  its  signifi- 
cance from  other  equally  pleasant  odors. 

The  holy  oil  of  unction  derived  from  the  four  spices 
with  which  it  was  compounded  the  power  of  diffusing 
an  aroma  not  to  be  excelled  in  sweetness,  and  was  there- 
fore fit  to  represent  the  joy  produced  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
both  in  him  who  is  anointed  with  it,  and  in  those  who 
surround  him.  That  perfumed  oil  was  a  sign  of  joy, 
appears  further  from  the  custom  of  omitting  unction  on 
fast-days,  and  during  the  customary  period  of  mourning 
for  the  dead  ;2  from  the  manner  in  which  the  Book  of 
Isaiah  mentions  the  oil  of  joy,  contrasting  it  with  mourn- 
ing ;  *  from  the  mode  in  which  the  psalmist  employs  the 
figure  of  sacerdotal  oil  to  illustrate  the  pleasantness  of 

1  Mark  xiv.  5.        "^  2  Sam.  xiv.  2;  Dan.  x.  3;  Matt.  vi.  17.        3  isa.  L\i.  3. 


2  44  SIGNIFICANCE   OF   THE    TABERNACLE. 

brotherly  concord,  ^  and  especially  from  the  congratula- 
tory address  to  the  king,  "  Thy  throne,  O  God,  is  for  ever 
and  ever  :  the  sceptre  of  thy  kingdom  is  a  right  sceptre. 
Thou  lovest  righteousness,  and  hatest  wickedness  :  there- 
fore God,  thy  God,  hath  anointed  thee  with  the  oil  of 
gladness  above  thy  fellows."  ^ 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  perfumed  oil,  in  distinc- 
tion from  that  which  was  pure,  was  conceived  of  in  this 
address  to  the  king ;  for  the  psalmist  continues,  "  All 
thy  garments  smell  of  myrrh,  and  aloes,  and  cassia,  out 
of  the  ivory  palaces,  whereby  they  have  made  thee  glad." 
But  the  same  evidence  which  proves  it  to  have  been 
perfumed  shows  also  that  it  was  not  identical  in  its 
composition  with  the  precious  ointment  of  the  sanctuary 
which,  when  poured  on  the  head  of  Aaron,  ran  down  on 
his  beard,  and  went  down  to  the  skirts  of  his  garments. 
Two  of  the  spices  mentioned  as  perfuming  the  raiment 
of  the  king  were  ingredients,  and  constituted  two-thirds 
of  the  whole  weight  of  spicery  in  the  chrism  with  which 
the  priests  and  the  tabernacle  were  anointed  ;  showing  a 
close  similarity  between  the  two  compounds,  ^  as  close, 
perhaps,  as  was  consistent  with  the  law  forbidding  the 
use  and  the  manufacture  for  other  purposes  of  any  per- 
fume after  the  recipe  by  which  the  holy  anointing  oil  of 
the  tabernacle  was  prepared.  But  the  mention  of  the 
smell  of  aloes,  in  this  oil  of  gladness  with  which  the  king 
had  been  anointed,  sufficiently  proves,  if  the  absence  of 
the  other  ingredients  did  not,  that  it  differed  from  the 
sacerdotal  oil.  It  was  a  perfumed  chrism  resembling  in 
its  composition,  and  yet  different  from,  that  prepared  for 
the  sanctuary.     Perhaps  when  the  Hebrews  changed  the 

1  Ps.  cxxxiii.  1, 2.    2  ps.  xlv.  6,  7.     3  Compare  Exod.  xxx.  23,  24  with  Ps.  xlv.  8. 


SYMBOLISM  OF   VEGETABLE  SUBSTANCES.      245 

form  of  their  government  to  a  monarchy,  and  desired 
a  ceremonial  for  establishing  the  king  in  his  regal  office, 
a  recipe  was  furnished  for  this  as  for  the  sacerdotal 
chrism,  and  purposely  made  similar  because  both  com- 
pounds should  be  of  the  choicest  materials,  and  yet 
different  so  as  to  maintain  the  separation  of  the  older 
recipe  to  its  original  use. 

With  the  moderns,  sight  takes  precedence  of  the 
other  senses  in  distinguishing  between  the  agreeable 
and  the  disagreeable,  so  that  there  is  a  tendency  to 
characterize  as  beautiful,  things  which  please  otherwise 
than  through  the  eye ;  but,  with  the  Hebrews,  the  sense 
of  smell  had  the  pre-eminence,  and  an  agreeable  object 
was  "a  savor  of  a  sweet  smell,"  not  only  when  its 
pleasantness  was  appreciated  by  the  olfactory  organs, 
but  in  cases  where  there  could  be  an  odor  only  in  a 
figurative  sense.  A  good  name  was  as  ointment  poured 
forth,  and  diffusing  its  agreeable  perfume.  To  be  dis- 
liked, on  the  contrary,  was  to  be  a  stench  in  the  nostrils ; 
and  so  fixed  had  this  idiom  become  that  the  English 
translators  sometimes  took  the  liberty  of  rendering  it 
by  "to  be  abhorred,"^  or  "  to  be  had  in  abomination,"  " 
or  "to  be  odious."^  One  case  especially  deserves  notice 
on  account  of  the  evidence  furnished  in  the  passage 
itself  that  the  figure  had  been  used  till  its  origin  and 
literal  meaning  were  ignored.  The  officers  of  the 
Hebrews  said  to  Moses  and  Aaron,  "  Jehovah  look  upon 
you,  and  judge,  because  ye  have  made  our  savor  to  be  a 
stench  in  the  eyes  of  Pharaoh."  * 

Now,  if  the  pleasant  aroma  of  spices  when  mixed  with 
oil  added  to  the  significance  of  the  latter  the  idea  of 

1  Exod.  V.  21.    2  I  Sam.  xiii.  4.        ^  \  Chron.  xix.  6.         ■*  Exod  v.  21, 


246  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

gladness  accompanying  the  work  of  the  Spirit,  we  may 
safely  infer  that  perfumes,  whenever  and  wherever  used 
as  symbols,  stood  for  something  agreeable.  If,  as  ingre- 
dients in  the  chrism  with  which  Aaron  was  consecrated, 
they  signified  that  his  priesthood  would  be  diffusive  of 
joy  among  those  for  whom  he  officiated,  doubtless  when 
burned  on  the  altar  of  Jehovah  they  represented  a 
spiritual  offering  of  something  with  which  he  was  well 
pleased. 

It  would  be  fair  to  infer  thus  much  in  regard  to  the 
burning  of  perfumes  as  an  act  of  worship ;  we  have, 
however,  more  than  inferential  proof  that  the  sweet  odor 
arising  from  the  altar  symbolized  the  agreeableness  of  a 
spiritual  sacrifice,  for  incense  is  explained  in  the 
Scriptures  as  being  the  prayers  of  the  holy.^  Prayer  in 
its  broadest  meaning,  including  praise,  thanksgiving, 
confession  of  sin,  supplication,  and  intercession,  is 
pleasing  to  God.  He  loves  to  listen  to  the  intelligent 
declaration  of  his  power,  wisdom,  and  righteousness, 
the  contrite  acknowledgment  of  conscious  imperfection, 
and  the  confiding  appeals  to  his  parental  love  of  those 
who  in  behalf  of  themselves  or  of  others  present  some 
request.  He  enjoys  such  utterances  from  the  lips  of 
his  people  as  an  Oriental  monarch  delights  in  the 
fragrant  perfumes  wafted  to  him  on  wings  of  fire.  The 
burning  of  odorous  substances  on  the  altar  of  God  was 
accordingly  appointed  to  be  the  symbol  of  prayer,  but 
of  prayer  in  the  broad  sense  of  worship. 

Such  a  significance  of   incense  was   not  peculiar  to 

1  Luke  i.  10  ;  Rev.  v.  8  ;  viii.  3,  4.  In  one  of  these  texts,  the  vessels  containing 
the  incense  are  said  to  be  the  prayers,  but  doubtless  for  the  reason  that  they 
contained  the  incense.  We  must  not  follow  the  letter  so  closely  as  to  lose  the 
spirit  of  the  text. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  VEGETABLE  SUBSTANCES.      247 

Mosaism,  but  obtained  also  in  heathenism.  When  the 
Hebrews  fell  away  from  Jehovah  to  serve  other  gods, 
they  worshipped  the  idols  of  the  neighboring  nations  by 
burning  incense.  ^  •  The  Egyptians  honored  all  their 
numerous  deities  with  these  odorous  oblations ;  ^  and  in 
Latin  literature  are  many  allusions  to  a  similar  custom 
among  the  Romans.^ 

Examination  of  the  import  of  pomegranates  and 
almonds  is  postponed  till,  in  the  progress  of  our  work,  a 
more  eligible  time  shall  arrive  for  interpreting  these 
symbols,  which,  as  they  are  less  transparent  than  some 
others,  are  also  inferior  in  importance. 

1  2  Chron.  xxxiv.  25  ;  Jer.  xi.  12,  17. 

2  Wilkinson  :  Second  Series,  vol.  ii.  p.  338. 

8  Horace:  Odes,  I.  xxx.  i ;  III.  viL  2;  IV.  i.  52. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

SYMBOLISM  OF  ANIMALS  AND    COMPOSITE    ANIMAL    FORMS. 

The  animals  which  might  be  offered  in  sacrifice  within 
the  precincts  of  the  tabernacle  were  oxen,  goats,  sheep, 
and  pigeons.  Of  these  as  symbols,  and  of  the  composite 
animal  forms  called  cherubs,  the  present  chapter  is  to 
treat. 

We  have  shown  in  the  preceding  chapter  how  corn 
and  wine  represented  the  life-work  of  the  Hebrews, 
whose  normal  occupation  was  agriculture ;  intimating  at 
the  same  time  that  the  symbolism  was  incomplete  till 
flocks  and  herds,  the  products  of  another  branch  of 
husbandry,  were  included  with  those  of  tillage  in  this 
representation.  The  Hebrew  was  required  to  offer  on 
the  altar  of  his  God  not  only  bread  and  wine,  but  some 
of  the  domestic  animals  which  he  spent  so  large  a 
portion  of  his  time  and  labor  in  rearing ;  and  there  was 
resemblance  in  the  import  of  the  sacrifices,  whether 
they  were  fruits  of  tillage  or  of  grazing. 

Bread  and  wine,  however,  as   products    not   only    of 

agriculture,  but  of  skill  and  industry  superadded  to  the 

labor   expended   on   the   soil,   are   particularly   apt    for 

symbolizing   what   a   man   has   acquired    by  his  labor ; 

while,  if  it  be  necessary  to  symbolize  the  man  himself,  it 

is  more  natural  to  do  it  by  means  of  his  calf,  kid,  or 
248 


SYMBOLISM  OF  ANIMALS. 


249 


lamb,  which  by  the  possession  of  animal  life  are  better 
adapted  to  represent  the  vital  power  of  their  owner. 
Sacrifices  being  symbols  of  spiritual  oblations,  an  animal 
was  more  expressive  of  self-surrender,  as  the  vegetable 
offering  was  of  the  consecration  of  labor.  Both  were 
the  property  of  the  worshipper,  products  of  diligence  in 
his  normal  life-work,  and  staple  articles  of  food.  Pre- 
sented together,  they  symbolized  the  consecration  to  God 
which  the  Hebrew  made  of  his  person  and  of  his  toil 
in  the  field  of  ethics ;  and  the  burning  of  them  on  the 
altar  by  the  mediating  priest  signified  that  Jehovah 
accepted  and  delighted  in  the  spiritual  offering  which 
they  symbolized,  as  the  worshipper  enjoyed  flesh,  bread, 
and  wine,  when  placed  on  his  own  domestic  table. 

Such  being  in  general  the  significance  of  sacrifices, 
we  must  look  more  particularly  at  the  points  of  corre- 
spondence between  an  animal  brought  to  the  altar,  and 
that  for  which  it  stood  in  the  spiritual  transaction  repre- 
sented. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  the  animal  was  the  property 
of  the  worshipper.  A  man  who  would  represent  the 
giving  of  himself,  i.e.,  of  his  faculties  as  a  person,  as 
well  as  of  his  life-work,  must  bring  something  which  was 
truly  his  own.  That  in  which  he  had  no  property  could 
not  symbolize  a  gift.  When  David  wished  to  offer  a 
sacrifice  on  the  threshing-floor  of  one  of  his  wealthy 
subjects,  who  with  princely  liberality  offered  to  furnish 
gratuitously  whatever  materials  were  at  hand,  including 
the  oxen  and  the  wheat,  the  king  refused  to  accept  the 
gift,  saying,  "  Nay  ;  but  I  will  surely  buy  it  of  thee  at  a 
price  :  neither  will  I  offer  burnt-offerings  unto  Jehovah, 
my  God,  of  that  which  doth  cost  me  nothing,"  ^     The 

1  2  Sam.  xxiv.  24. 


250  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

element  of  ownership  must  inhere  even  in  vegetable 
offerings  ;  but,  where  the  giving  of  the  very  person  of 
the  worshipper  was  to  be  acted,  there  was,  if  possible,  a 
still  more  stringent  necessity  to  include  in  the  material 
of  the  sacrifice  the  idea  of  property. 

Two  things  may  be  alleged  against  this  position  ; 
namely,  that  the  ram  which  Abraham  sacrificed  instead 
of  his  own  son  was  not  his  property,  and  that  the  first 
victims  brought  to  the  altar  after  the  Babylonian  captivity 
were  provided  by  the  generosity  of  Cyrus.^  But  these 
were  exceptional  cases  :  the  first  (to  say  nothing  of  its 
being  pre-mosaic)  so  singular  and  extraordinary  as  to 
furnish  no  aid  in  the  study  of  normal  cases ;  and  the 
other  only  showing  that  the  returning  exiles,  being  unable 
in  their  extreme  poverty  to  re-establish  their  ancestral 
worship  with  their  own  resources,  availed  themselves 
temporarily  of  the  assistance  of  a  foreign  prince.  What- 
ever weight  of  evidence  might  be  allowed  to  this  accept- 
ance of  aid,  to  prove  that  ownership  was  not  an  element 
in  the  idea  of  sacrifice,  is  more  than  counterbalanced  by 
the  early  care  of  the  colonists  to  make  ordinances, 
charging  themselves  with  all  necessary  expenses  for  the 
service  of  the  house  of  God.^ 

Secondly,  the  material  for  a  sacrifice  must  be  edible 
property.  The  law  required  payments,  and  encouraged 
gifts  to  Jehovah  for  the  maintenance  of  his  sanctuary 
and  its  attendants,  out  of  other  portions  of  the  substance 
which  the  Hebrew  had  acquired ;  but  sacrifices  on  the 
altar  must  consist  only  of  food.  Things  which  it  was 
impossible  to  eat,  as  well  as  every  thing  that  by  reason 
of  its  uncleanness  ought  not  to  be  eaten,  were  excluded 

1  Ezra  vi.  9.  2  Neh.  x.  32. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  ANIMALS. 


251 


from  this  class  of  holy  offerings.  The  reason  of  this  is 
to  be  found  in  the  analogy  between  man's  enjoyment  of 
his  food,  and  the  delight  God  has  in  that  which  the 
transaction  at  the  altar  pictured.  Jehovah  was  pleased 
with  the  dedication  to  a  life  of  holy  obedience,  which  the 
pious  Israelite  there.made  of  himself  and  his  power  to 
work.  To  him  it  was  delicious  food  to  see  his  people 
keep  his  covenant,  and  remember  his  commandments  to 
do  them.  The  fruits  of  holiness  in  the  lives  of  his 
people,  represented  by  the  products  of  labor  in  their 
earthly  vocation,  being  thus  pleasing  to  God,  it  was 
necessary  that  altar-gifts  should  consist  of  food,  so  that 
the  worshipper  might  be  assisted,  by  his  own  experience 
of  the  pleasures  of  the  table,  to  appreciate  the  delight 
with  which  Jehovah  received  the  sacrifices  of  righteous- 
ness. 

Thirdly,  the  gift  brought  to  the  altar  must  be,  in 
relation  to  the  worshipper,  something  for  which,  and  by 
means  of  which,  he  lived.  The  normal  vocation  of  the 
Hebrew  was  agriculture,  in  its  two  departments  of  grazing 
and  tillage  ;  and  the  ceremonial  of  religion  assumed 
that  every  sacrificer  was  a  husbandman.  Those  who 
followed  some  other  pursuit  could  fulfil  the  requirement 
of  law  by  purchasing  the  sacrifices  they  presented ;  but 
the  nature  of  the  required  material  presupposed  that  the 
rearing  of  flocks  and  herds,  and  the  production  of  corn 
and  wine,  were  the  chief  occupation  of  the  Hebrew. 
These  products  of  his  labor  thus  appointed  to  be  the 
material  of  sacrifice  were,  moreover,  his  staple  articles 
of  food.  His  life  was  spent  in  providing  them,  and  they 
were  the  means  by  which  his  life  was  sustained.  So,  in 
the  higher  plane  of  spiritual  things,  obedience  to  God 


252  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACIE. 

was  the  end  sought  by  the  true  Israelite,  and  the  means 
of  sustaining  Hfe.  He  labored  in  the  field  of  ethics  for 
the  fruits  of  holiness,  and  lived  by  means  of  them.  He 
gave  his  attention  to  the  commandments  of  Jehovah  as 
the  husbandman  does  to  his  vineyards,  his  cornfields, 
and  his  cattle ;  and  lived  by  every  word  that  proceed- 
eth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God,  as  in  the  lower  plane 
of  physical  things  he  supported  life  by  means  of  flesh, 
bread,  and  wine :  hence  the  necessity  that  the  gift 
brought  to  the  altar  should  be  in  rapport  with  the 
worshipper,  both  as  an  object  of  constant  pursuit,  and 
as  a  means  of  sustenance.  He  intends  to  say  through 
his  symbol,  "  Lo,  I  come  :  I  delight  to  do  thy  will,  O  my 
God;  yea,  thy  law  is  within  my  heart  :"^  the  symbol, 
therefore,  should  be  something  for  which  he  labors,  and 
by  which  he  subsists.  To  obey  is,  indeed,  better  than 
sacrifice,  as  the  substance  of  a  thing  is  better  than  its 
shadow ;  but  the  sacrifice  could  be  a  shadow  of  obedi- 
ence only  as  \\.  stood  to  the  worshipper  in  this  double 
relation,  consisting  of  that  for  which,  and  by  means  of 
which,  he  lived. 

Thus  far,  the  points  of  correspondence  between  the 
animal  brought  to  the  priest  for  sacrifice,  and  that  for 
which  it  stood  in  the  spiritual  transaction  reflected,  have 
been  such  as  were  common  to  an  animal  and  a  vegetable 
offering.  In  regard  to  both,  it  was  necessary  that  the 
material  should  be  the  property  of  the  worshipper,  the 
property  of  such  kind  as  he  could  use  for  food,  and 
the  food  such  as  the  people  generally  spent  their  lives  in 
producing,  and  commonly  used  for  sustenance.  But 
the  points  of  correspondence  between  the  animal  and  the 

1  Ps.  xl.  7,  8. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  ANIMALS. 


253 


spiritual  offering,  which  remain  to  be  mentioned,  are 
such  that  corn  and  wine  would  be  incompetent  to  take 
the  place  of  the  bleeding  victim,  and  act  its  part  in  the 
representation. 

To  the  three  already  mentioned  we  add,  fourthly,  the 
sacrificial  animal  when  presented  to  God  had  a  psychical 
life.  The  Old  Testament  comprehends  the  whole  animal 
world,  including  man,  in  the  phrase,  "  all  flesh  in  which  is 
the  breath  of  life."  Animals  are  thus  distinguished  from 
plants,  in  which,  though  there  is  life,  there  is  no  breath. 
Breathing,  according  to  the  psychology  of  the  Hebrews, 
was  the  effect  and  manifestation  of  a  vital  force  which 
they  believed  to  reside  in  the  blood,  and  called  soul. 
They  regarded  every  thing  which  had  breath  and  blood  as 
possessing,  or  to  speak  more  accurately  as  being,  a  living 
soul.  They  acknowledged,  indeed,  a  distinction  between 
the  merely  animal,  and  the  human,  creation,  believing 
that  man  was  endowed  with  the  attributes  of  personality, 
being  self-conscious,  self-determining,  and  consequently 
capable  of  holiness  or  its  opposite  ;  whereas  the  ox,  the 
goat,  and  the  sheep,  had  no  power  of  introspection  or 
self-determination,  and  therefore  no  responsibility  for 
their  actions.  But,  while  recognizing  the  image  of  God 
in  man,  they  held  that  he  had,  in  common  with  all  flesh 
in  which  is  the  breath  of  life,  that  power  which  they 
believed  to  reside  in  the  blood  of  every  breathing 
creature,  and  called  soul. 

Accordingly,  a  living  animal,  by  virtue  of  this  common 
basis  of  life,  might  represent  a  man,  especially  in  any 
matter  where  life  was  concerned.  Its  owner  might 
substitute  it  in  place  of  himself  in  a  dramatic  exhibition 
of  religious  truth.     Its  blood,  which,  as  we  had  occasion 


254  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

to  show  in  the  chapter  on  color,  was  the  recognized 
symbol  of  its  hfe,  might  by  substitution  become  the  sym- 
bol of  the  life  of  its  owner.  When  the  Hebrew  brought 
a  lamb  to  the  priest,  and  laid  his  hand  on  its  head, 
he  by  that  sign  dedicated  the  animal  to  be  his  substi- 
tute, and  die  in  his  stead.  He  did  so  in  accordance 
with  an  express  appointment  of  Jehovah,  as  is  evident 
from  the  Mosaic  statute  prohibiting  the  use  of  blood 
as  food.  The  reason  for  such  a  prohibition  is  given  in 
the  words,  "  For  the  life  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood :  and 
I  have  given  it  to  you  upon  the  altar  to  make  an  atone- 
ment for  your  souls :  for  it  is  the  blood  that  maketh 
atonement  with  the  soul."  ^  '  The  translation  is  that  of 
the  received  English  version,  with  the  exception  of  the 
last  preposition  ;  which  we  render  with,  instead  of  for, 
to  indicate  a  difference  both  in  form  and  in  meaning 
between  the  last  clause  of  the  verse,  and  the  similar 
clause  which  precedes.^  Even  without  this  amendment 
of  the  translation,  the  reason  alleged  for  the  prohibition 
testifies  that  the  blood  of  a  sacrificial  animal,  when  put 
upon  the  altar,  made  an  atonement  for  the  soul  of  the 
worshipper,  and  repeats  the  testimony  in  the  last  clause 
of  the  verse.  A  proper  distinction  between  two  Hebrew 
prepositions  gives,  however,  greater  strength  and 
clearness  to  the  testimony  by  bringing  out  its  declaration 


1  Lev.  xvii.  ii. 

2  Nordheimer,  in  his  Hebrew  grammar,  vol.  ii.  p.  232,  says  of  the  preposition  1, 
"  It  is  employed  to  point  out  the  means  with  or  by  which  the  action  is  performed ; 
e.  g., '  They  shall  smear  it  with  pitch  '  (Gen.  vi.  14), '  Lest  he  smite  us  with  pestilence 
or  with  the  sword '  (Exod.  v.  3),  '  Ye  shall  buy  meal  with  money  '  (Deut.  ii.  6),  '  Write 
with  a  man's  pen '  ( Isa.  viii.  i ),  '  With  thy  wisdom  and  with  thy  understanding 
thou  hast  procured  thyself  riches'  (Ezek.  xxviii.  4,  5)."  Gesenius  also  speaks  of 
it  as  sometimes  placed  before  the  instrument. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  ANIMALS. 


255 


that  the  atonement  is  made  with  the  soul,  or  Hfe,  of  the 
victim. 

One  point  of  correspondence,  then,  between  the 
bleeding  sacrifice  and  that  which  it  represented,  wherein 
it  differed  from  corn  and  wine,  was  that  it  had  a  psychical 
life,  enabling  it  to  represent  its  owner  as  a  living  being, 
and  give  up  its  life  for  him  in  any  situation  in  which  he 
was  liable  to  die.  Hence,  in  a  sin-offering  or  a  trespass- 
offering  there  was  no  presentation  of  corn  and  wine,  as 
these  would  be  without  meaning  where  the  ceremonial 
represented  merely  the  expiation,  or  covering  of  sin  :  a 
bleeding  animal  was  the  essential  and  only  material 
suitable  for  a  sin-offering.  Its  blood  made  an  atonement 
for,  or  covered,  as  the  Hebrew  word  literally  signifies,  the 
soul  of  its  owner  with  its  own  soul.  In  a  holocaust, 
the  principal  idea  being  that  of  dedication,  the  material 
was  both  animal  and  vegetable  ;  but  the  fact  that  the 
blood  of  the  animal  was  sprinkled  on  the  altar  as  in 
the  sin-offering,  shows  that  the  expiation  of  sin  symbol- 
ized by  that  transaction  entered  as  an  element  into  the 
idea  of  a  burnt-offering.  Indeed,  in  the  statute  fixing 
the  ceremonial  of  the  holocaust,  it  is  expressly  declared 
that  the  sacrificer  shall  "  put  his  hand  upon  the  head  of 
the  burnt-offering,  and  it  shall  be  accepted  for  him  to 
make  atonement  for  him."  ^  He  could  be  permitted  to 
represent  the  surrender  of  himself  and  his  works,  only  on 
condition  that  such  a  gift  should  be  immediately  preceded 
by  rites  of  expiation.  The  sprinkling  of  blood  on  the 
altar  when  peace-offerings  were  presented,  is  evidence 
that  expiation  for  the  soul  of  the  worshipper  with  the 
soul  of  the  victim,  was   an   element   in   this    species  of 

1  Lev.  i.  4. 


256  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

sacrifice  also.  In  all  cases,  therefore,  where  life  was 
taken  at  the  altar,  there  was  represented  a  substitution 
of  the  animal  for  its  owner,  he  having  by  his  sin  become 
liable  to  die,  and  the  victim  making  expiation  for  him, 
life  for  life. 

Fifthly,  the  sacrificial  ammal  must  be  free  from 
blemish.  This  requirement  was  founded  on  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  animal  as  a  medium  of  expiation.  Bodily 
injuries  and  defects  are  in  the  sphere  of  physics  what 
sins  are  in  the  domain  of  ethics.  A  sinful  being 
evidently  cannot  come  in  between  another  sinner  and 
God  to  be  a  cover  of  sin.  His  life,  being  forfeited  for 
his  own  crime,  is  not  receivable  as  an  expiation  for  one 
whom  he  might  attempt  to  represent.  This  being  true, 
a  sacrificial  animal  must  be  free  from  injury  or  natural 
defect  in  order  to  symbolize  the  sinlessness  of  the 
substitute  who  comes  in  between  God  and  the  trans- 
gressor to  cover  the  sin  of  the  latter.  The  symbol  must 
be  physically  whole  to  represent  the  innocence  of  that 
which  is  substituted  for  guilt. 

Sixthly,  the  sacrificial  animal  must  be  of  an  age  which 
indicates  vigor  of  life.  Animals  could  not  be  offered  in 
sacrifice  till  they  were  eight  days  old,  and,  according  to 
tradition,  the  limit  at  the  other  extreme  was  three  years : 
in  most  cases,  one  year  was  the  age  prescribed. 

In  addition  to  this  symbolism  of  animals,  the  Hebrews 
employed  also,  in  the  representation  of  their  religious 
thought,  composite  animal  figures.  In  this  they  followed 
neighboring  nations  older  than  themselves ;  for  example, 
the  Egyptians  and  the  Assyrians.  The  remainder  of 
this   chapter  is   to   treat    of    these   figures    and    their 


Fig.  26. 
EAGLE  HEADED    HUMAN    FIGURE. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  ANIMALS. 


257 


significance.  It  may  be  useful  to  glance  first  at  the 
similar  usage  of  the  heathen. 

Says  Layard,  "  On  the  earliest  Assyrian  monuments, 
one  of  the  most  prominent  sacred  types  is  the  eagle- 
headed  human  figure.  Not  only  is  it  found  in  colossal 
proportions  on  the  walls,  or  guarding  the  portals  of  the 
chambers,  but  it  is  also  constantly  represented  amongst 
the  groups  on  the  embroidered  robes.  When  thus 
introduced,  it  is  generally  seen  contending  with  other 
mythic  animals  such  as  the  human-headed  lion  or  bull ; 
and  in  these  contests  it  appears  to  be  always  the 
conqueror.  It  may  hence  be  inferred  that  it  was  a  type 
of  the  supreme  deity,  or  of  one  of  his  principal 
attributes."  ^ 

The  same  author  also  informs  us  that  the  head  of  an 
eagle  is  sometimes  found  added  to  the  body  of  a  lion  ;  the 
resultant  figure  thus  resembling  the  griffin  of  the  Greek 
mythology,  avowedly  an  Eastern  symbol,  and  connected 
with  Apollo,  or  the  sun,  of  which  the  Assyrian  form  was 
probably  an  emblem.  This  composite  figure,  like  the 
eagle-headed  man,  is  the  conqueror  in  combats  with 
other  symbolic  figures. 

He  proceeds  to  say,  "  The  winged  human-headed  lions 
and  bulls,  those  magnificent  forms  which  guarded  the 
portals  of  the  Assyrian  temples,  next  deserve  notice. 
Not  only  are  they  found  as  separate  sculptures,  but, 
like  the  eagle-headed  figures,  are  constantly  introduced 
into  the  groups  embroidered  on  the  robes.  It  is  worthy 
of  observation  that  whenever  they  are  represented  in 
contest  either  with  man,  or  with  the  eagle-headed 
figure,  they  appear  to  be  vanquished."  ^ 

1  Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  vol.  ii.  p.  34S.  2  ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  349. 

22* 


258  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

Various  other  composite  forms  are  found  in  the 
Assyrian  sculptures,  such  as  the  winged  horse,  the  dragon 
with  the  eagle's  head,  and  the  human  figure  with  the 
head  of  a  lion,  —  all  emblematic  of  religious  ideas. 

Among  the  Egyptians,  a  hawk-headed  human  figure 
represented  the  king.  The  hawk  being  the  symbol  of 
the  sun,  which  they  worshipped  under  the  name  Re, 
implied  either  identity  with  that  deity,  or  similarity  of 
position  and  attributes.  The  Egyptian  sphinx,  combin- 
ing the  body  of  the  lion  with  the  head  of  some  other 
animal,  also  represented  the  king ;  the  lion  symbolizing 
strength ;  the  human  head,  intelligence ;  the  hawk's 
head,  far-reaching  and  comprehensive  vision ;  and  the 
ram's  head,  combativeness. 

A  degree  of  resemblance  is  at  once  evident  in  the 
composite  animal  figures  employed  by  these  two  nations  ; 
the  eagle-headed  man  of  the  Assyrians  being  similar 
to  the  hawk-headed  man  of  the  Egyptians,  and  the 
human-headed  lions  and  bulls  recently  uncovered  at 
Nineveh  reminding  one  of  the  colossal  andro-sphinx 
at  Gizeh  which  has  so  long  been  one  of  the  wonders  of 
the  world.  The  general  resemblance  is,  however, 
invariably  accompanied  by  a  difference  of  detail  in  the 
figures  of  the  two  nations.  The  Assyrian  sculptor 
never  used  the  hawk  as  a  symbol,  nor  the  Egyptian  the 
eagle.  The  Assyrian  sphinx  has  either  the  body  of  a 
lion  or  of  an  ox ;  but  the  sphinx  of  Egypt,  so  far  as  its 
hinder-parts  are  concerned,  employs  only  the  form  of  the^ 
lion.  There  is  still  greater  diversity  in  the  meaning 
attached  to  such  symbols  by  the  two  nations  ;  for,  as 
Layard  says,  "  Although  the  andro-sphinx  of  the  Egyp- 
tians  was   the   type  of  the  monarch,  we   can  scarcely 


I 


Fig.  27. 
EAGLE-HEADED   LION. 


Fig.  28. 
WINGED    HU^L•\N  HEADED    LION. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  ANIMALS. 


259 


believe  it  to  have  been  so  among  the  Assyrians ;  for  in 
the  sculptures  we  find  even  the  eagle-headed  figure,  the 
vanquisher  of  the  human-headed  lion  and  bull,  minis- 
tering to  the  king."  ^ 

We  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  the  composite 
animal  figures  found  in  the  tabernacle,  commonly  called 
cherubs,  or,  if  we  retain  the  Hebrew  form  of  the  plural, 
cherubim.  Two  such  figures  in  statuary  of  gold  stood 
on  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  one  at  each  end  of  the 
mercy-seat ;  and  such  figures  were  woven  into  the  tap- 
estry with  which  the  edifice  was  covered,  and  divided 
into  its  two  apartments. 

The  etymology  of  the  word  cherub  being  lost,  the 
name  renders  us  no  assistance  in  the  interpretation  of 
the  symbol.  It  is  noteworthy,  however,  that  Ezekiel 
applies  to  similar  composite  figures  the  appellation, 
''living  creatures ;  "  and  the  Apostle  John,  a  similar  desig- 
nation, unfortunately  rendered  in  the  common  English 
version  "  beasts!'  Following  the  clew  here  given,  we 
inquire  if  there  is  any  thing  in  the  composite  form  itself 
to  carry  us  onward  in  this  line  of  interpretation.  The 
cherubs  of  the  tabernacle  are  not  described  in  the  speci- 
fications, but  mentioned  as  if  the  form  were  already  so 
well  known  as  to  need  no  delineation  for  the  sake  of  the 
general  reader.  Doubtless  the  artists  were  furnished 
with  minute  directions. 

The  living  creatures  seen  by  Ezekiel  are  described  by 
him  with  considerable  amplification.^  They  were  com- 
pounded of  four  animals,  —  the  ox,  the  lion,  the  eagle,  and 
man,  —  each  excelling  in  some  one  life-power.  The  com- 
bination suggests  a  being,  real  or  ideal,  uniting  in  himself 

1  Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  vol.  ii.  p.  349.  2  Ezek.  L  5-25. 


26o  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

the  qualities  in  which  these  four  different  manifestations 
of  life  are  severally  eminent.  The  human  form  is  the 
groundwork  of  the  composition.;  ^  and  the  additions  to  it 
are  suggestive  of  an  improvement  on  man  by  adding  to 
his  faculties  those  in  which  other  animals  are  his 
superiors  ;  as,  for  example,  the  power  of  vision  and 
motion  peculiar  to  the  eagle,  the  strength  of  the  lion, 
and  the  submission  of  the  ox.^ 

The  cherubs  seen  by  the  Apostle  John  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse were  different  in  appearance  from  those  described 
by  Ezekiel,  each  having  for  its  ground-form  one  of  the 
four  animals  already  mentioned  ;  but  the  recurrence  of 
these  four,  notwithstanding  this  diversity,  confirms  the 
deductions  already  stated. 

The  idealization  of  earthly  creatural  life  by  the  com- 
bination of  its  highest,  manifestations  was  projected  into 
shape  as  a  composite  animal  figure,  not  constant  in  form, 
but  varying  as  one  element  or  another  prevailed  in  the 
ideal  conception.  The  presence  of  all  these  four  animal 
forms  in  the  visions  both  of  Ezekiel  and  of  John,  ren- 
ders it  probable  that  the  four  were  wholly,  or  in  part, 
contained  in  the  cherubic  figures  of  the  tabernacle. 

Was,  then,  this  idealization  of  life  designed  to  repre- 
sent beings  actually  existing  in  this  high  grade  of  life, 

^  Ezek.  i.  5. 

2  Layard  (Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  vol.  ii.  p.  350)  says  of  the  emblematic 
figures  of  the  Assyrians,  "  Power  was  probably  typified  indiscriminately  by  the  body 
of  the  lion  and  the  bull."  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  these  two  animals 
have  been  found  combined  in  one  composition  in  the  sculptures  of  Assyria.  Where 
united  in  one  representation,  as  in  the  cherub  of  Ezekiel,  they  doubtless  represent 
different  ideas ;  and  as  the  lion  was  frequently  in  Hebrew  usage  a  symbol  of 
strength,  as  appears  from  many  passages  of  Scripture,  it  seems  probable  that  the 
ox  is  designed  to  portray  the  willingness  with  which  the  ideal  being  employs  liis 
erninent  facidties  in  the  service  of  Jehovah. 


Fig.  29. 
ANDRO-SPHINX. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  ANIMALS.  261 

or  did  it  point  backward  to  what  man  was  before  the 
fall,  and  forward  to  what  he  is  to  be  in  the  restored 
paradise  ?  There  is  no  passage  of  Scripture  which 
indisputably  teaches  the  actual  existence  of  beings 
represented  by  these  composite  animal  figures.  In  most 
cases,  cherubs  appear  in  scenes  which  are  plainly  sym- 
bolic or  poetic  ;  and  the  only  passage  appealed  to  in 
proof  that  they  do  not  stand  for  what  is  purely  ideal,  is 
in  the  narrative  of  the  expulsion  of  our  first  parents 
from  paradise,  where  it  is  said  that  the  Lord  God  "  drove 
out  the  man,  and  placed  at  the  east  of  the  garden  of 
Eden  cherubim,  and  a  flaming  sword  which  turned 
every  way  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life."  ^ 

But  why  not  interpret  the  word  here  in  accordance 
with  the  common,  and  if  this  passage  is  not  an  excep- 
tion, the  uniform  usage  of  Scripture,  as  designating 
symbolic  forms  visible  to  man  in  his  expulsion,  and 
understood  by  him  to  represent  his  own  nature  as  it  was 
before  the  fall,  and  as  it  might  again  become .''  The 
flaming  sword  now  guarded  the  tree  of  life  from  his 
approach  ;  but  the  symbols  of  man  restored  to  the  life 
he  had  lost,  still  occupied  the  garden  as  a  pledge  of  his 
restoration. 

Is  it  alleged  that  the  office  of  the  cherubs  was  to  keep 
the  way  of  the  tree  of  life  ?  The  passage  has,  indeed, 
been  commonly  understood  to  affirm  this  of  the  cherubs 
as  well  as  of  the  sword,  but  without  sufficient  ground  ; 
for  the  demands  of  syntax  are  fully  met  by  referring  the 
custody  of  the  tree  to  the  sword.  The  passage  thus 
understood  affirms  of  the  cherubs  only  that  they  were 
placed  in  the  east  of  the  garden,  or  near  its  entrance ; 

1  Gen.  iii.  24. 


262  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

for  doubtless  Eden,  like  the  tabernacle  in  the  wilderness, 
fronted  the  rising  sun.  The  inference  is  that  they  were 
placed  there  to  have  the  same  significance  as  they 
had  in  the  tabernacle,  in  the  temple,  and  in  the  Apoca- 
lyptic vision  of  heaven.  If,  under  the  Mosaic  and  Chris- 
tian dispensations,  these  composite  figures  symbolized 
humanity  redeemed,  sanctified,  and  glorified,  probably 
they  had  a  parallel  meaning  when  employed  in  the 
symbolism  of  earlier  times.-^ 

What  they  signified  in  the  tabernacle  and  in  the  tem- 
ple being  the  very  point  to  be  illuminated,  we  pass  at 
once  from  the  first  scene  in  the  history  of  redemption 
where  they  appear,  to  the  vision  of  heaven  in  which  a 
Christian  Hebrew  beheld  these  symbolic  beings  before 
and  around  the  throne  of  God.  They  there  join  in  the 
song  to  the  Lamb,  saying,  as  the  angels  do  not  say, 
"  Thou  art  worthy  to  take  the  book,  and  to  ofen  the 
seals  thereof ;  for  thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us 
to  God  by  thy  blood,  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue, 
and  people,  and  nation  ;  and  hast  made  us  unto  our  God 
kings'  and  priests  :  and  we  shall  reign  on  the  earth."  ^ 

What  clearer  evidence  than  this  do  we  need  that  the 
composite  animal  figures  of  Hebrew  symbolism  repre- 
sented humanity  raised  from  its  death  in  Adam  to 
fulness    of   life  in    Christ .''     They  were  "  living    ones " 

1  The  writer,  believing  firmly  in  the  truth  of  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  probation 
and  fall  of  Adam,  believes  also  that  Moses  has  given  it  to  us  in  the  language  of 
symbolism,  and  that  we  are  no  more  justified  in  interpreting  it  literally  than  in  a 
parallel  exegesis  of  John's  description  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  Those,  however, 
who  insist  that  the  description  of  Eden  is  literal,  and  understand  that  the  garden 
remained  enclosed  after  the  fall,  attach  symbolic  meaning  to  the  cherubim  placed  in 
the  east  of  it ;  so  that  it  is  sufficient  for  his  present  purpose  if  these  symbols  are 
correctly  interpreted,  whatever  view  may  be  taken  of  the  remainder  of  the  picture. 

2  Rev.  v.  9,  10. 


SYMBOLISM  OF  ANIMALS.  263 

oecause  Christ  having  died  for  them,  and  risen  again, 
had  made  them  partakers  of  his  Hfe.  They  belonged 
to  every  kindred  and  tongue,  and  people  and  nation, 
and  had  been  redeemed  with  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  of 
God. 


CHAPTER  X. 

INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  EDIFICE  OF  THE  TABERNACLE. 

In  surveying  the  resources  of  the  interpreter,  it 
seemed  necessary  to  anticipate  the  work  of  interpretation 
so  far  as  to  argue  from  the  directions  given  to  Moses 
for  the  preparation  of  the  tabernacle,  and  for  the  conduct 
of  its  ministrations,  that  it  was  designed  to  represent 
the  presence  of  Jehovah  with  the  Hebrews  as  their 
covenant  God.  Accepting  the  result  of  the  argument, 
we  do  not  propose  to  repeat  the  steps  by  which  it  was 
reached  ;  but  to  commence,  at  the  position  thus  gained, 
that  interpretation  of  the  symbols  of  the  institution  for 
which  the  previous  chapters  have  prepared  the  way. 

But,  before  proceeding  to  a  more  specific  inquiry  into 
the  significance  of  the  tabernacle,  let  us  notice  how  the 
descriptive  terms  applied  to  it  by  its  divine  projector 
confirm  the  deduction  thus  drawn  from  the  plan  of  the 
edifice,  from  the  manifest  adaptation  of  its  furniture,  and 
from  the  natural  symbolism  of  portions  of  its  ritual. 

The    Hebrew  word  mishcan,  translated  tabernacle,  is 

derived  from  the  verb  shacan,  to  dwell  ;  and  is  therefore 

equivalent  etymologically  to  dwelling-house,  or  habitation, 

which,   among   a   nomadic   people,    would   naturally  be 

conceived   of  not   as   implying   solid   masonry,   but   as 

portable  like  their  own  habitations.     Apart,  then,  from 
264 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  EDIFICE.  265 

the  indications  in  its  plan  and  appointments,  there  is, 
in  the  application  to  the  edifice  of  the  word  mishcan, 
reason  for  the  conjecture  that  it  was  designed  to  be  in 
some  sense  the  habitation  of  God  ;  and  the  suggestion 
becomes  more  and  more  worthy  of  regard,  as  one 
observes  the  frequency  with  which  this  appellation  is 
employed.  But  if  the  name  by  which  the  Hebrew 
mentioned  his  own  portable  dwelling  when  applied  to  the 
sacred  tabernacle  in  the  midst  of  the  encampment,  sug- 
gested to  his  mind  that  the  latter  was  the  home  of 
Jehovah,  he  must  have  entertained  the  idea  in  a  sense 
consistent  with  the  invisibility  and  omnipresence  ascribed 
to  the  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob.  That 
this  edifice  was  the  habitation  of  Jehovah,  could  mean 
only  that  it  was  the  place  where  he  manifested,  by  sym- 
bolic representation,  what  he  was  in  his  own  nature  and 
in  his  attitude  Jioward  his  people,  and  where  he  commu- 
nicated with  them  by  accepting  their  offerings,  and 
imparting  instruction,  counsel,  and  consolation. 

This  conception  of  the  edifice  as  a  place  where  God 
dwelt  for  the  purpose  of  revealing  himself  to  his  people, 
and  communicating  with  them,  appears  also  in  the  more 
specific  terms  ohel  haaduth,  tent  of  the  testimony,  and 
ohel  moadth,  inaccurately  rendered,  in  the  common 
English  version,  tent  of  the  congregation,  but  signifying 
tent  of  meeting.  As  a  tent  of  testimony,  the  tabernacle 
added  to  the  revelation  which  the  material  universe  makes 
of  the  intelligence  and  power  of  God,  a  declaration  of 
his  spiritual  nature.  The  witness  thus  borne  by  the 
whole  institution  was  especially  distinct  and  emphatic  in 
the  ark  of  the  testimony,  whose  symbolism,  as  we  shall 
presently  discover,  represented  that  the  Holy  One  of 
23 


266  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

Israel  required  holiness  in  his  covenant  people,  and  was 
at  the  same  time  ready  to  restore  to  his  fellowship  and 
his  house,  penitent  trangressors  whose  sin  had  been 
expiated.  As  a  tent  of  meeting,  it  had  a  two-sided  adap- 
tation :  on  one  side  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  which  the 
people  might  become  conscious  ;  and  on  the  other  to 
the  divine  purpose  in  their  election,  being  the  appointed 
place  where  the  people  were  to  come  when  they  desired 
to  transact  with  their  God,  and  where  he  summoned 
them  to  receive  the  communications  he  wished  to  convey. 
By  whichever  party  an  interview  was  sought,  this  was 
the  house  where  Jehovah  met  his  people,  and  where 
they  might  be  sure  always  to  find  him. 

The  tabernacle  being  therefore  the  habitation  of  God, 
we  proceed  to  examine  in  detail  the  symbols  it  presents 
in  its  edifice,  its  furniture,  its  priesthood,  its  lustrations, 
its  sacrifices,  and  its  calendar. 

The  conception  of  the  tabernacle  as  an  edifice 
includes  its  court ;  though  sometimes  the  word  is  applied 
in  a  more  restricted  sense  to  the  house,  as  distinguished 
from  the  open  area  in  which  it  stood.  The  court  was 
the  only  part  of  the  edifice  in  which  the  people  could 
personally  appear,  and  transact  with  Jehovah.  Here  he 
met  them  at  the  altar  of  burnt-offering  to  accept  the 
self-surrender  symbolized  by  their  sacrifice,  and  give  his 
blessing  in  return.  Here  they  came  whenever  burdened 
with  the  consciousness  of  sin,  as  well  as  on  anniversary 
days  appointed  by  divine  authority,  to  make  confession, 
and  to  receive  the  seal  of  re-establishment  in  the  favor 
of  God.  The  court,  then,  was  the  outer  part  of 
Jehovah's  habitation,  where  he  received  those  who  were 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  EDIFICE.  267 

not  allowed  to  enter  the  palace  itself;  and  represents 
that  first  stage  in  the  establishment  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  where  he  makes  provision  for  the  expiation  of  sin, 
and  establishes  friendly  relations  with  men.  The 
Hebrews,  though  elected  by  Jehovah  as  his  peculiar 
treasure,  a  kingdom  of  priests,  and  a  holy  nation,  were 
not  yet  permitted  to  come  to  him  in  the  exercise  of 
priestly  functions.  They  themselves  were  conscious, 
when  first  informed  of  their  election,  that  they  were 
unfit  to  deal  directly  with  so  holy  a  God,  and,  though 
accepting  the  terms  of  the  covenant,  requested  that 
they  might  be  excused  from  speaking  with  Jehovah 
directly,  and  receive  communications  from  him  through 
Moses.  In  accordance,  therefore,  with  a  necessity 
recognized  by  both  parties  to  the  covenant,  the  court  of 
the  tabernacle  was  the  place  where,  through  appointed 
representatives  of  himself,  God  met  those  who  sought 
the  forgiveness  of  sin,  offered  themselves  to  him  in  self- 
surrender,  and  presented  the  fruits  of  consecrated  lives, 
but  had  not  received  the  filial  spirit  which  would  enable 
them  to  enjoy  a  closer  intimacy. 

The  distinction  between  those  who  were  admitted 
only  to  the  court,  and  those  who  might  come  within  the 
tabernacle,  strictly  so  called,  was,  that  the  former,  being 
not  yet  qualified  to  draw  nigh  to  God,  needed  mediators, 
while  the  latter  might  come  to  him  directly.  Hence,  in 
the  court,  though  it  was  truly  a  place  where  God  met  his 
people,  all  transactions  with  them  were  carried  on 
through  the  intervention  of  the  priesthood ;  but  in  the 
house,  all  who  were  admitted  being  themselves  priests, 
no  third  party  came  between  them  and  the  master  of 
the  house. 


268  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

The  house,  as  distinguished  from  the  court,  represented 
the  kingdom  of  God  in  a  higher  stage  of  advancement, 
where  men  trusting  him  as  their  Saviour  desire  to  have 
direct  intercourse  with  him,  and  are  permitted  to  do  so. 
Those  who  here  transacted  with  God  were  a  privileged 
class,  chosen  out  of  Israel  as  Israel  was  chosen  from 
among  the  nations.  When  Jehovah  made  known  to  the 
Hebrews  their  election,  he  gave  them  to  understand 
that  all  the  earth  was  his,  but  that  they  were  his  peculiar 
treasure,  a  holy  nation,  and  a  kingdom  of  priests.-^ 
Afterward,  when  Korah  and  his  companions  rebelled 
against  the  restriction  of  priestly  functions  to  the 
family  of  Aaron,  and  claimed  that  all  the  covenant 
people  were  holy,  and  might  officiate  at  the  altar, 
founding  their  claim  perhaps  on  the  announcement  at 
Sinai,  Moses  characterized  Aaron  with  the  same 
specifications  of  difference  from  the  rest  of  the  congre- 
gation with  which  the  original  announcement  to  the 
covenant  people  of  their  election  had  distinguished  them 
from  the  heathen.  "  To-morrow,"  said  he,  "  Jehovah 
will  show  who  are  his,  and  who  is  holy,  and  will  cause 
him  to  come  near  unto  him."  ^  Those  whom  he  would 
allow  to  officiate  in  the  symbolic  worship  of  the  taber- 
nacle were  chosen,  were  holy,  were  his  in  distinction 
from  other  Hebrews,  as  the  whole  Hebrew  people 
were  chosen,  were  holy,  were  his  peculiar  treasure 
above  all  other  nations.  But,  though  the  Levitical 
priests  were  in  the  symbolic  worship  a  privileged  class, 
their  official  prerogative  was  conferred  on  them  for  the 
sake  of  showing  forth  the  high  position  to  which  all 
Israel  were  called,  of  being  priests  in  that  kingdom  of 

1  ExoA  xix.  5,  6.  2  Num.  xvi.  5. 


INTERPRETATIOiY  OF  THE  EDIFICE.  269 

God  of  which  the  tabernacle  was  the  shadow.  As 
the  court  represented  that  kingdom  before  any  real 
expiation  had  been  made  for  sin,  and  inculcated  the 
need  of  such  expiation,  so  the  interior  of  Jehovah's 
house,  where  only  the  priests  might  appear  in  his  pres- 
ence, represented  the  same  kingdom  in  a  later  stage  of 
development,  when  the  need  expressed  in  the  symbols 
of  the  court  had  been  supplied,  and  its  people  being 
truly,  in  distinction  from  symbolically,  made  clean,  might 
draw  near  to  their  God. 

But  there  was  still  within  the  house  itself  a  division 
into  two  chambers,  and  a  difference  between  the  two  in 
the  degree  of  their  sanctity,  corresponding  with  that 
between  the  court  and  the  house.  As  the  common 
people  were  forbidden  to  pass  from  the  court  into  the 
outer  apartment,  so  the  priests  of  ordinary  rank  were 
prohibited  from  entering  within  the  veil  which,  as  they 
ministered  in  the  holy  place,  concealed  from  them  the 
visible  symbol  of  Jehovah.  As  they  lighted  the  lamps, 
renewed  the  loaves  of  show-bread,  and  burned  incense, 
they  believed  that  the  cloud  was  upon  the  mercy-seat 
over  the  ark  of  testimony,  though  they  did  not  see  it ; 
but  the  high-priest,  when  allowed  to  enter  within  the 
veil,  stood  in  the  immediate  presence  of  that  symbol 
with  no  screen  between  it  and  him. 

The  Jioly  of  holies  represented  the  kingdom  of  God 
in  its  highest  stage  of  development,  where  his  people 
draw  near  by  sight,  and  not,  as  in  the  preceding  stage,  by 
faith.  It  was  accessible  only  to  him  in  whom  all  the 
dignity  and  sanctity  of  the  priesthood  culminated  that 
he  might  represent  the  glorious  estate  of  those  who, 
when  the  divine  plan  of  redemption  shall  have  reached 
23* 


270  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

its  highest  and  final  development,  shall  dwell  with  God 
in  his  immediate  presence  as  kings  and  priests,  seeing 
as  they  are  seen,  and  knowing  as  they  are  known.  Even 
to  him,  access  was  not  ordinarily  permitted :  once  only 
in  a  year,  when  rites  of  lustration  for  his  own  sins  and 
those  of  his  constituents  were  necessary,  he  might  enter 
to  perform  them,  but  must  immediately  fill  the  apart- 
ment with  a  cloud  of  incense  lest  he  should  lose  his  life 
by  gazing  at  the  symbol  of  Jehovah. 

The  three  stages  of  progress  which  this  tripartite 
division  of  the  tabernacle  represents,  find  their  realiza- 
tion in  the  history  both  of  individual  believers  and  of 
redemption  itself.  The  law  teaches  a  man  the  reality, 
extent,  and  odiousness  of  sin,  and  his  need  of  expiation. 
The  gospel,  both  in  its  rudimental  state  before  the 
advent  of  Christ,  and  more  clearly  since  his  appearance, 
points  to  a  Lamb  of  God  which  is  a  true  expiation, 
and  thus  enables  one  who  receives  the  glad  tidings  with 
faith,  to  come  near  to  God  and  dwell  with  him  in  mutual 
love.  But  there  is  reserved  for  every  believer  a  higher 
privilege  than  this.  While  in  the  body,  his  communion 
with  God,  however  intimate  and  sweet,  must  be  by  faith, 
and  not  by  sight ;  but,  when  absent  from  the  mortal 
body,  he  shall  be  present  with  the  Lord,  so  that  for  him 
to  die  is  gain. 

The  tabernacle  was,  however,  not  only  an  exponent 
of  personal  religious  experience  by  which  the  Israelite 
who  felt  the  burden  of  sin  was  guided  into  the  con- 
sciousness of  regeneration,  justification,  and  adoption, 
and  at  the  same  time  assured  of  ultimate  advancement 
to  a  higher  and  absolutely  perfect  state,  but  a  represen- 
tation  of  the   entire   work   of  redemption  in   its  three 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  EDIFICE.  271 

stages  of  development  in  human  history  ;  the  first,  then 
existing,  and  continuing  till  the  appearance  of  Christ ; 
the  second,  extending  from  his  first  to  his  second 
advent ;  and  the  third,  exhibiting  the  kingdom  of  God 
in  its  complete  and  eternal  state.  The  court  is  the 
church  under  the  old  covenant,  when  the  people  needed 
types  of  the  expiation  to  be  provided  afterward  ;  the 
holy  place  is  the  church  under  the  new  covenant,  when 
the  symbolic  atonement  exhibited  in  the  court  has  given 
place  to  one  which  can  really  take  away  sin,  and  the 
covenant  peoj51e  are  consequently  able  to  draw  near  to 
God  in  their  own  persons,  though  not  yet  permitted 
to  behold  him ;  the  holy  of  holies  is  the  final  state  of 
the  kingdom  of  God,  which,  as  it  cannot  be  literally 
described  to  us,  has  been  again  symbolized  in  the 
New  Jerusalem  of  the  Apocalypse. 

Having  thus  ascertained  what  is  expressed  by  the 
division  of  the  tabernacle  into  its  court,  its  holy  place, 
and  its  holy  of  holies,  and  by  the  relation  of  these  parts 
one  to  another,  we  next  inquire  whether  the  forms 
exhibited  by  these  several  divisions,  and  by  the  entire 
edifice,  are  symbolic  ;  and,  if  so,  what  they  signify. 

A  place  of  worship  must  have  some  form ;  and  that  of 
the  quadrangle  is  so  convenient  for  the  purpose,  that 
one  is  disposed  to  think  at  first  that  utility  alone  deter- 
mined the  ground-plan  of  the  Hebrew  sanctuary  and  its 
circumjacent  court.  But  when  we  find  that,  with  all  the 
additions  superinduced  upon  the  plan  of  the  tabernacle 
to  answer  the  demands  of  the  more  elaborate  ritual  used 
in  the  time  of  Solomon,  the  ground-plan  of  the  sanc- 
tuary he  erected,  though  much  larger,  was  the  same  in 


272  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

shape  and  proportion  as  that  of  its  predecessor,  we  con- 
clude that  the  forms  thus  adhered  to  assisted  to  convey 
the  significance  of  which  both  tabernacle  and  temple 
were  full. 

An  Egyptian,  contemporary  with  Moses,  and  acquainted 
with  no  other  symbolism  than  that  of  his  own  country, 
might  be  led  to  conclude  that  the  quadrangular  form 
exhibited  in  the  habitation  of  the  Hebrew  God  was 
intended  to  suggest  that  the  cosmos  is  the  dwelling  of 
Jehovah  ;  but  a  person  already  familiar  with  the  Hebrew 
idea  of  a  covenant  God  dwelling  among  his  covenant 
people,  and  thus  revealing  his  spiritual  nature,  as  in  the 
universe  he  reveals  his  power  and  wisdom,  would  natur- 
ally so  modify  the  significance  attached  to  the  quadran- 
gle by  the  heathen  as  to  un(;Jerstand  by  it,  in  this  case, 
the  spiritual,  and  not  the  physical  realm,  in  which  God 
resides  and  reigns. 

From  the  Pentateuch  to  the  Apocalypse,  the  church,  or 
spiritual  kingdom  of  God,  whenever  portrayed  in  the  sym- 
bolism of  surface  forms,  is  represented  by  a  quadrangle. 
We  find  this  figure  not  only  in  the  tabernacle,  but  in 
the  temple  of  Solomon,  in  the  temple  of  Ezekiel,^  and  in  the 
New  Jerusalem.  In  the  first  two  of  these  instances,  the 
quadrangle  occurs  both  as  an  oblong  and  a  square,  but  with 
a  preponderance  of  the  former.  In  the  third,  the  quad- 
rangle is  again  exhibited  in  both  its  forms,  but  the  oblong 
is  seen  only  in  the  holy  place ;  the  court  being  square  to 
signify  that  the  kingdom,  as  here  portrayed,  is  no  longer 
in  the  stage  of  development  exhibited  in  the  tabernacle, 

1  A  delineation  of  the  temple  of  Ezekiel  in  two  plates,  copied  from  J.  F.  Bott- 
cher's  Proben  alttestameyitlichen  Schrifterkldriing,  may  be  found  at  the  end  of 
Rosenmiiller's  Scholia  in  Ezech.     Lipsiae,  1833. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  EDIFICE.  273 

but  has  passed  into  its  second  stage  by  the  historical 
fulfilment  of  that  which  was  symboHzed  in  the  court ; 
so  that  expiation,  if  now  represented,  must  appear  as 
complete.  In  the  fourth,  the  oblong  does  not  make  its 
appearance  at  all,  the  quadrangle  being  square  to  denote 
that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  now  in  its  final  and  perfected 
condition.  The  specific  difference  of  form  in  these 
quadrangles  is  not  an  antagonism  in  the  evidence,  but 
the  reverse ;  since  by  means  of  it  instances  are  multi- 
plied in  which  the  kingdom  of  God  is  represented  by  a 
four-sided  figure,  and  at  the  same  time  such  means  are 
furnished  of  exposing  to  view  specific  modifications  of 
the  generic  idea  represented,  as  one  might  expect  to  find 
in  an  elaborate  system  of  symbolization.  The  symbolic 
kingdom  is  always  four-sided,  but  is  oblong  or  square 
according  as  it  portrays  the  true  kingdom  in  its 
inchoate,  or  in  its  final  and  perfect  condition. 

We  are  prepared,  therefore,  to  go  again  through  the 
divisions  of  the  tabernacle,  and  indicate  the  significance 
of  its  ground-plan.  The  court  is  four-sided,  but  not 
square  ;  a  symmetrical  figure,  but  only  respective  and 
not  uniform  in  its  symmetry  to  show  that  its  spiritual 
counterpart,  though  approaching,  had  not  yet  reached 
the  perfection  suggested  by  a  square.  The  Jioly  place 
corresponded  in  form  with  the  court,  because  the  work 
of  redemption,  as  here  exhibited,  is  also  incomplete.  But, 
when  we  come  to  the  holy  of  holies,  we  find  in  its 
ground-plan  the  same  elements  of  regularity  which 
existed  in  the  other  divisions,  and,  in  addition,  an  exact 
equality  of  the  lines  by  which  it  is  defined.  The  quad- 
rangle being  changed  from  an  oblong  to  a  square,  and 
now  exhibiting  uniform  instead  of  respective  symmetry, 


3  74  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

has  not  only  ceased  to  suggest  remaining  defect,  but 
positively  affirms  the  faultlessness  of  that  which  it  repre- 
sents. 

The  symbolism  of  form  extends  beyond  the  superficial 
to  the  solid  figures  of  the  tabernacle.  The  height 
mentioned  in  the  specifications  so  accords  with  the 
requirements  of  convenience,  that  one  is  at  first  disposed, 
as  he  had  been  in  regard  to  the  ground-plan,  to  reject 
the  idea  of  symbolic  significance  ;  but  when  he  finds 
that  the  length,  and  breadth,  and  height  of  the  New 
Jerusalem,  are  equal,  he  is  compelled  to  believe  that,  at 
least  in  this  vision  of  the  holy  city  coming  down  from 
God  out  of  heaven,  the  cubical  form  has  significance. 
Even  an  ideal  city  could  never  be  raised  to  the  height  of 
twelve  thousand  furlongs,  in  obliteration  of  its  resem- 
blance to  real  cities,  except  for  the  purpose  of  symboliza- 
tion.  The  cube  is  among  solids,  as  the  square  among 
superficial  figures,  the  ultimate  of  regularity  and 
symmetry,  the  perfection  of  form ;  and  was  combined 
with  other  symbols  in  the  vision  of  the  apostle,  to  typify 
the  future  perfection  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  But  if  we 
admit  that  this  figure,  as  displayed  in  the  New  Jerusalem, 
was  significant,  we  cannot  deny  that  it  was  equally  so  in 
the  smaller  dimensions  of  the  Jioly  of  holies  in  the 
tabernacle  ;  and  when  we  have  learned  that  the  sym- 
bolism of  form  selects  the  cube  among  solids,  as  it  does 
the  square  among  superficial  figures,  to  represent  the 
absolute,  we  shall  be  prepared  for  a  similar  parallelism 
between  the  solid  which  has  an  oblong  base,  and  the 
base  itself  on  which  the  solid  has  been  erected.  As 
the  uniform  symmetry  of  the  apartment  called  the  holy 
of  holies  expressed  the  perfection  of  that  which  the  apart- 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  EDIFICE. 


275 


merit  represented,  it  follows  that  the  want  of  uniform 
symmetry  in  the  holy  place  denoted  a  corresponding 
defectiveness  in  that  which  the  chamber,  by  means  of 
its  respective  symmetry,  symbolized. 

The  shape  of  a  superficial  figure  depends  on  the 
number  of  its  sides  ;  so  that  the  symbolism  of  form  is 
intimately  connected  with  that  of  number.  If  numbers 
are  to  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  symbolization,  four  is 
naturally  the  numerical  signature  of  that  which  is  repre- 
sented by  a  figure  with  four  sides.  Consequently  this 
number,  wherever  found  in  the  tabernacle,  whether  it 
occurs  in  its  own  simple  form,  or  combined  with  other 
factors  in  multiples  of  itself,  suggests,  by  association  of 
ideas,  the  spiritual  kingdom  of  God.  Other  numbers 
are  also  thus  combined ;  but  naturally  four,  as  the 
representative  of  that  which  is  symbolized  by  the  entire 
institution,  enters  more  frequently  into  combination,  in 
order  to  stamp  subordinate  features  with  the  impress  of 
subordinate  relation. 

Having  sufficiently  investigated  the  symbolism  of  form 
as  exhibited  in  the  tabernacle,  let  us  again  survey  the 
edifice,  seeking  now  for  the  significance  of  such  numbers 
as  are  demanded  by  the  specifications. 

Commencing  with  the  wooden  frame,  we  find  that  the 
pillars  of  which  it  consists  amount  to  forty-eight.  W^s 
this  specification  arbitrary,  or  was  it  determined  by  the 
laws  of  symbolism  ?  Whatever  may  or  may  not  have 
been  suggested  to  the  contemporaries  of  Moses,  the 
Christian  reader  of  the  New  Testament  cannot  fail  to 
recognize  the  correspondence  between  the  walls  of  a 
temple,  at   least  when   built   of   stone,  and   the   people 


276  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

constituting  the  kingdom  of  God.  In  the  epistles  of 
both  Paul  and  Peter,  the  Christian  community  is  men- 
tioned under  the  metaphor  of  an  edifice  into  which 
t>elievers  are  incorporated  as  living  stones  laid  up6n 
Jesus  Christ  as  a  foundation.  The  first-named  of  these 
writers  mentions  prophets  and  apostles  as  built  into  the 
walls  immediately  upon  Christ,  the  chief  corner-stone ; 
and  in  the  vision  of  the  New  Jerusalem  of  the  Apocalypse 
twelve  stones,  or  courses  of  stone,  are  seen  in  the  foun- 
dation of  its  walls,  inscribed  with  the  names  of  the 
twelve  apostles.  This  imagery  of  the  New  Testament 
was  doubtless  derived  directly'  from  the  temple  of 
Solomon,  and  was  superior,  for  the  purpose  of  the  writers, 
to  any  furnished  by  the  tabernacle :  yet  the  latter, 
though  inferior,  in  the  time  of  the  apostles,  to  a  structure 
of  stone  for  symbolizing  a  people  organized  into  a  com- 
munity in  which  God  was  present,  may  have  been 
planned  to  serve  the  same  end  in  the  time  of  their 
nomadic  ancestors.  Its  frame  of  wood  may  have  been 
synonymous  with  the  walls  of  stone  which  enclosed  the 
sanctuary  erected,  in  a  later  age,  to  inculcate  the  same 
system  of  truths  on  a  people  dwelling  in  fixed  habitations. 
If  so,  what  number  of  pieces  should  we  expect  to  find  in 
this  wooden  frame  .''  As  twelve  is  the  numerical  signa- 
ture of  the  Hebrew  people,  and  the  frame  of  so  large 
a  structure  as  was  required  could  not  consist  of  so 
few  pieces,  the  number  would  probably  be  determined 
^y  some  multiple  of  twelve.  But  forty-eight  is  the 
riiultiple  of  twelve  by  that  number  which  stands  for 
the  kingdom  of  God  ;  so  that  the  combination  of  twelve 
and  four  seals  the  people  represented  by  twelve  as  the 
living  material  of  that  spiritual  temple  which  the  taber- 
nacle was  throughout  designed  to  symbolize. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  EDIFICE. 


277 


Turning  from  the  frame  to  its  coverings,  observe  that 
they  are  four  in  number.  Necessity  requiring  some- 
thing more  thdn  the  dehcate  fabric  of  the  innermost 
curtain,  but  not  dictating  whether  there  shall  be  two, 
three,  four,  or  five  coverings  in  all,  there  seems  to  be  no 
other  reason,  in  this  case  also,  why  four  was  chosen  than 
that  it  is  the  numerical  symbol  of  the  idea  which  the 
whole  edifice  was  designed  to  inculcate ;  namely,  that 
the  Hebrew  community  was  the  kingdom  of  God.  But 
four  is  the  number  not  only  of  the  curtains,  but  of  the 
colors  exhibited  by  the  innermost  and  principal  curtain, 
in  which  white,  blue,  purple,  and  crimson,  combined  to 
make  a  new  presentation  of  the  thought  already  sug- 
gested to  the  mind.  But,  further,  these  coverings,  so  far 
as  they  were  of  cloth,  were  wOven  in  webs  four  cubits 
wide,  as  if  it  were  intended  that  this  symbol  should  not 
fail  of  accomplishing  its  end  by  lack  of  iteration. 

The  dimensions  of  the  curtains  were  determined  by 
the  size  of  the  edifice :  a  sufficient  reason  thus  appear- 
ing for  the  prescribed  length  and  breadth  of  the  first 
and  second,  we  need  not  look  for  significance  in  the 
number  of  cubits  mentioned  in  the  specifications.  The 
silence  of  Moses  in  regard  to  the  measure  of  the  third 
and  fourth  coverings,  which  were  of  leather,  also  favors 
the  conclusion  that  the  dimensions  of  the  curtains  were 
not  significant.  But  the  size  of  the  edifice,  and  of  its 
several  parts,  seems  to  have  been  determined  with  refer- 
ence to  the  laws  of  numerical  symbolism.  The  holy  of 
holies  is  ten  cubits  in  its  length,  breadth,  and  height 
respectively.  The  holy  place  is  ten  cubits  in  width  and 
in  height,  but  twenty  cubits  in  length.  The  court  is 
fifty  cubits  wide,  and  one  hundred  cubits  long.  Every 
24 


.?78  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

one  of  these  prescribed  measures  is  limited  by  ten  or 
some  multiple  of  it ;  and,  as  we  can  discover  no  reason 
for  this  in  necessity  or  peculiar  adaptation,  we  find  one 
in  the  meaning  of  ten  as  employed  by  the  ancients  to 
signify  such  completeness  as  is  reached  by  numerical 
augmentation  at  the  end  of  every  decade.  The  fre- 
quent occurrence  of  ten  in  the  dimensions  of  the  edifice, 
suggests  and  emphasizes  the  idea  of  perfection  as 
attained  by  growth  from  a  state  of  imperfection  ;  and,  if 
there  were  only  tens  and  powers  of  ten,  we  might  per- 
haps be  constrained  to  understand  that  the  kingdom  of 
God  was  represented  as  already  existing  in  this  per- 
fected condition.  But  there  are  indications  in  the 
numerical  symbolism  of  the  tabernacle,  as  well  as  in  its 
exhibition  of  both  squares  and  oblongs,  that  the  institu- 
tion represents  that  which  is  destined  to  be  perfect,  but 
has  not  yet  attained  to  perfection.  The  whole  area 
enclosed  is  fifty  cubits  wide,  and  one  hundred  cubits 
long ;  so  that,  in  one  of  the  dimensions,  the  ten  is 
multiplied  by  a  number  which  the  Greeks  employed  to 
indicate  progress  toward  completion  in  that  which  is  yet 
in  a  dimidiate  or  incomplete  state.  In  the  temple  of  Solo- 
mon, the  dimensions,  though  enlarged,  are,  in  all  cases 
where  they  are  given,  multiples  of  ten  ;  but  as  we  are 
ignorant  of  the  dimensions  both  of  the  court  of  sac- 
rifice, and  of  the  entire  temple  enclosure,  we  cannot 
positively  afiirm  that  the  edifice  bore  any  numerical  sign 
of  incompleteness.  But  the  temple  of  Ezekiel  which 
exhibits  a  square,  or  perfected  court  of  sacrifice,  one  hun- 
dred cubits  on  a  side,  has  its  outer  enclosure,  though 
square,  limited  by  five  as  a  mark  of  incompleteness 
appropriate  where  the  holy  place  had  not  yet  attained  to 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  EDIFICE.  279 

the  form  of  a  square.  The  Kmitation  by  five  is  in  this 
case  still  more  weighty  in  its  significance  because  given 
not  in  cubits,  as  the  dimensions  of  the  court  of  sacri- 
fice, the  Jioly  place,  and  the  Jioly  of  holies  are  given,  but  in 
reeds,  apparently  for  the  sole  purpose  of  exhibiting  the 
numeral  five  hundred  (500),  rather  than  the  equivalent 
measure  in  cubits,  which,  being  three  thousand  (3000), 
would  carry  no  token  of  deficiency.  In  the  New  Jeru- 
salem, all  incompleteness  having  now  disappeared,  the 
dimensions,  given  in  furlongs  to  imply  the  growth  of 
the  kingdom  since  it  was  measured  by  cubits  and  reeds, 
are  produced  by  the  multiplication  of  the  numerical  sig- 
nature of  the  holy  people  into  a  higher  power  of  ten  than 
any  hitherto  appearing  in  the  recorded  dimensions  of 
symbolic  sanctuaries.  The  exhibition  of  both  five  and 
ten  in  the  dimensions  of  the  tabernacle  suggests,  there- 
fore, that  both  incompleteness  and  completeness  pertain 
in  some  way  to  that  which  is  represented.  The  places 
in  which  they  respectively  occur  indicate  that  the  incom- 
pleteness is  to  be  referred  to  the  stage  of  development 
in  which  the  kingdom  of  God  then  existed,  and  that  the 
imperfection  is  ultimately  to  disappear.  The  five  im- 
pressed on  the  court  marks  that  which  it  represents  as 
tending  toward,  but  not  yet  attaining  to,  the  complete- 
ness signified  by  ten. 

The  same  numerical  sign  of  imperfection  occurs  in 
the  height  of  the  court,  which  was  five  cubits,  whereas  the 
tabernacle,  restrictively  so  called,  w»s  ten  cubits  high, 
and  in  the  spaces  between  the  pillars  of  the  court,  which 
also  measured  five  cubits  ;  so  that  the  curtain  supported 
by  these  pillars  appeared  in  divisions  five  cubits  high, 
and  five  cubits  wide. 


28o  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

This  sign  of  incompleteness  appears  even  in  the  num- 
ber of  the  pillars  around  the  court,  which,  according  to 
the  specifications,  must  show  ten  on  the  front,  ten 
on  the  rear,  and  twenty  on  each  side,  or  sixty  in 
all ;  so  that  the  total  sum  is  equal  to  the  product 
of  the  numerical  sign  of  the  holy  nation  multiplied 
by  the  numerical  sign  of  incompleteness.  Bahr  counts 
each  corner-pillar  twice,  once  on  the  end,  and  once 
on  the  side,  and  thus  makes  a  total  of  fifty-six ;  but 
the  accompanying  diagram  by  Riggenbach^  exhibits 
an  arrangement  of  the  pillars  which  seems  to  accord 
better  with  the  specifications,  and  is  certainly  more 
symmetrical,  as  it  divides  without  fractions  both  the 
length  and  width  of  the  court,  expressed  in  cubits, 
into  sections,  each  having  its  length  equal  to  the 
height  of  the  curtain.  It  should  be  remembered  that 
the  specifications  were  not  designed  to  show  how  the 
arrangement  of  the  pillars  would  strike  the  eye  of  a 
spectator,  but  to  guide  the  artisans  in  their  work  of  con- 
struction. They  must  provide  twenty  pillars  for  each 
side,  ten  for  the  rear,  and  ten  for  the  front.  They  must 
arrange  them  so  that  on  the  front  there  shall  be  an 
entrance  twenty  cubits  wide,  provided  with  a  curtain 
which  can  be  either  let  down,  or  folded  up,  and  secured 
to  the  fillet  of  silver  extending  from  pillar  to  pillar. 
This  entrance  must  be  so  placed  in  the  front  as  to  have 
equal  spaces  on  each  side.  The  specifications  therefore 
divide  the  ten  pillars  of  the  front  into  four  for  the 
twenty  cubits  of  the  gateway,  and  three  for  each  of 
the  side  spaces  ;  but  we  are  to  understand  that  these 
numbers  are  not  given  by  one  who  after  the  tabernacle 

^  Die  Mosaische  Stiftshiitte.     Basel,  1867. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  EDIFICE.  281 

had  been  set  up  tells  how  many  pillars  strike  his  eye,  but 
by  one  who  is  directing  how  many  shall  be  constructed. 

The  entrances  to  the  three  divisions  of  the  tabernacle 
are  severally  cut  into  sections  by  a  specified  number  of 
pillars ;  the  gateway  of  the  court  must  have  four ;  the 
entrance  to  the  house,  five ;  and  the  veil  between  the 
holy  place  and  the  Jioly  of  holies,  four.  No  other  reason 
for  these  specifications  of  number  being  apparent,  we 
seek  one  in  symbolism ;  but  find  it  in  the  significance 
of  the  sections  into  which  the  entrances  are  thus 
divided,  rather  than  in  the  pillars,  which  here,  also,  are 
numbered  for  the  benefit  of  the  artisans,  and  not  of 
spectators.  The  four  pillars  specified  for  the  gate  of  the 
court,  as  may  be  seen  by  referring  to  the  diagram,  cut 
that  gateway  into  four  divisions  :  the  five  pillars  at 
the  entrance  of  the  house,  if  the  two  outer  are  placed 
each  in  front  of  the  side  walls,  cut  that  entrance  also 
into  four  sections :  the  four  pillars  between  the  two 
apartments,  if  the  two  outer  are  placed  in  contact  with 
the  side  walls,  give  three  passages  from  one  apartment 
to  the  other.  That  significance  is  attached  to  the 
entrances,  and  not  to  the  pillars,  is  evident  both  from 
the  subserviency  of  the  latter,  and  from  the  enumeration 
in  the  Apocalypse  of  the  gates  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  as 
if  there  were  meaning  both  in  the  gates  themselves,  and 
in  the  number  of  them. 

What,  then,  is  the  import  of  these  doors  of  the  sanc- 
tuary .''  The  first  and  second,  counting  as  one  moves 
inward,  bear  the  numerical  signature  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  as  if  to  signify  that  those  who  belonged  to  it  might 
pass  through,  and  dwell  with  Jehovah  in  the  fellowship 

of    his   house.     The   first   advertised    them    that    they 
24* 


282  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

might  in  person  enter  the  court,  and  there  transact  with 
God  through  his  representatives ;  the  second,  that 
through  their  representatives  they  might  enter  into 
the  holy  habitation  itself.  The  third  door,  bearing  the 
numerical  signature  of  that  which  is  infinite  and  divine, 
is  thus  marked  as  a  transit  through  which  none  has  a 
right  to  pass  but  Jehovah.  It  is  atrisagion,  proclaiming, 
to  those  who  have  been  admitted  to  the  outer  apartment, 
the  superlative  sanctity  of  the  inner  chamber.  The 
entrance  of  the  high-priest  through  this  triplex  passage, 
once  in  a  year,  in  no  degree  militates  against  this 
interpretation,  since  he  merely  enters  to  lustrate  the  tab- 
ernacle defiled,  even  to  the  parts  most  remote  from  and 
inaccessible  to  the  people,  by  their  sinfulness  ;  and,  when 
thus  admitted  for  the  purpose  of  purifying  the  place 
that  God  may  continue  to  dwell  in  it,  he  must  immedi- 
ately raise  a  cloud  of  incense  to  hide  from  his  view  what 
the  apartment  contained.  It  was  not  his  dwelling-place 
as  the  outer  chamber  was  the  home  of  the  priesthood  : 
it  belonged  exclusively  to  Jehovah. 

One  point  more  in  the  symbolism  of  number  deserves 
attention  before  we  pass  to  the  consideration  of  color. 
The  inner  curtain  was  divided,  over  the  veil  between  the 
holy  place  and  the  Jioly  of  holies,  into  halves,  which  were 
again  joined  together  by  means  of  loops  and  studs.  The 
division  cannot  be  accounted  for  on  the  ground  of 
utility,  and  seems  to  have  been  made  solely  to  sug- 
gest that  the  habitation  consisted  of  two  parts  so 
distinct,  that  one  might  be  removed,  and  the  other  remain. 
This  suggestion  was  repeated  in  the  second  curtain, 
which  also  was  divided  over  the  partition-veil.  Now,  the 
number  of   loops  required  by  the   specifications  is  fifty 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  EDIFICE.  283 

for  each  of  the  halves,  and  the  number  of  studs  fifty  for 
each  of  the  connections.  The  innermost  curtain  must 
have  fifty  loops  on  each  of  its  connecting  selvages,  and 
fifty  studs  for  each  connection,  and  the  second  curtain 
an  equal  supply  of  loops  and  studs  ;  the  studs  of  the 
first  being  of  gold,  and  those  of  the  second  of  copper. 
The  limitation  of  the  loops  and  studs  by  fifty,  and  the 
adherence  to  fifty  notwithstanding  the  difference  in 
the  length  of  the  two  curtains,  indicate  that  the  number 
was  significant.  It  is  the  same  numeral  which  expressed  in 
cubits  the  width  of  the  court,  and  must  be  intended  to 
convey  a  similar  meaning.  It  is  the  multiple  of  the  two 
factors  which  stand  for  completeness  and  incompleteness, 
and  hints  that  the  two  representations  which  came 
together  into  one  at  this  junction  of  the  curtains,  sym- 
bolized what  was  yet  incomplete,  but  destined  to  attain 
completeness. 

The  symbolism  of  color  appears,  in  the  edifice  of  the 
tabernacle,  only  in  the  drapery.  The  curtain  which 
enclosed  the  court  is  of  bleached  linen,  to  signify  that 
the  area  thus  enclosed  is  a  holy  place  where  nothing 
unclean  may  enter,  where  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  dwells 
in  the  midst  of  the  holy  nation.  The  veil  which  covers 
the  entrance  differs,  however,  from  this  pure  white 
drapery,  being  diversified  with  the  other  sacred  colors. 
The  admixture  of  these  brilliant  hues  with  the  white  con- 
veys to  the  beholder  some  further  information  in  regard 
to  the  character  of  this  holy  habitation  of  Jehovah.  The 
blue  reminds  him  of  its  heavenly  origin  ;  the  purple,  of 
the  kingly  state  of  its  occupant ;  and  the  crimson  marks 
it  as  a  place  of  life  where  the  living  God  dwells  in  the 


284  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

midst  of  the  living  creatures  to  whom  he  has  imparted 
eternal  life.  Proceeding  inward,  we  find  the  four  colors 
in  all  the  remaining  drapery;  in  the  veil  before  the 
habitation,  in  that  which  divides  the  holy  place  from 
the  holy  of  holies,  and  in  the  curtain  designated  as 
the  tabernacle.  The  veils  at  the  entrance  of  the  court, 
and  at  the  entrance  of  the  house,  are  in  every  respect 
similar.  The  same  colors  are  specified,  are  enumerated 
in  the  same  order,  whatever  that  may  signify,^  and  are  so 
inwoven  as  to  produce  a  similar  pattern.  The  English 
version  speaks  of  needlework ;  but'the  original  seems  to 
indicate  that  the  fabric  was  woven  so  as  to  exhibit  the 
blue,  the  purple,  and  the  crimson,  in  regular  stripes  or 
checks,  and  not  in  exact  imitation  of  the  tabernacle  and 
its  partition-veil,  both  of  which  the  skill  of  the  weaver 
had  adorned  in  the  same  beautiful  colors  with  cherubic 
shapes  as  a  pattern  appropriate  only  in  the  interior  of 
the  habitation. 

The  crimson  thus  woven  into  all  the  drapery  of  the 
tabernacle,  except  the  screen  which  separated  its  holy 
area  from  the  encampment,  proclaimed  that  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  not  only  holy,  but  life-giving.  It  marked  the 
symbolic  kingdom  as  the  place  where  the  covenant 
people  were  to  become  acquainted  with,  and  enjoy  their 
God'  Through  the  medium  of  its  testimony  and  its 
services,  as  under  the  Christian  dispensation  through 
the  temple  of  Christ's  body,  they  were  to  have  fellow- 
ship with  Him  whom  to  know  is  the  true  life  ;  and,  the 

1  The  colors  of  the  curtain  called  the  tabernacle  are  always  mentioned  in  the 
order  which  follows ;  namely,  fine-twined  linen,  blue,  purple,  and  crimson ;  but  in 
all  other  cases,  including  the  three  veils  and  the  sacerdotal  garments,  the  colors  are 
enumerated  as  blue,  purple,  crimson,  and  fine-twined  linen.  No  one  has  suggested 
a  reason  for  the  difference  of  arrangement. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  EDIFICE.  285 

crimson  in  the  entrance-curtain  of  the  court  havinc: 
announced  this  characteristic  of  the  institution,  the  veil 
at  the  entrance  of  the  habitation  repeated  the  announce- 
ment ;  and  the  composite  animal  figures  depicted  in  the 
interior  as  symbols  of  living  creatures,  whether  wrought 
wholly  or  only  partly  in  crimson,  still  more  explicitly 
attested  that  in  the  kingdom  of  God  man  is  restored  to 
the  life  which  was  lost  through  sin. 

As  the  area  of  the  court  represented  a  kingdom,  and 
the  house  was  the  dwelling  of  a  king,  it  was  meet  that 
one  of  the  colors  displayed  by  the  tapestry  should  be  the 
royal  purple,  to  illustrate  the  kingly  majesty  of  Him  who 
here  reigns  King  of  Israel. 

As  the  tabernacle  was  a  pattern  of  things  in  the 
heavens,  and  was  designed  to  institute  upon  earth  such  a 
reign  of  God  as  exists  in  heaven,  its  drapery  displays  the 
azure  hue  of  the  firmament,  to  indicate  that  the  thing 
symbolized  had  its  origin  in  the  blue  expanse  where, 
"  from  the  place  of  his  habitation,  Jehovah  looketh  upon 
all  the  inhabitants  of  earth,"  ^  and  was  brought  down 
thence  to  be  in  this  lower  world  not  only  a  kingdom,  but 
a  kingdom  of  heaven. 

In  the  chapters  on  artificial  symbolism,  the  metals 
followed  next  after  color.  Observing  the  same  order  in 
the  work  of  interpretation,  we  now  inquire  what  was 
signified  by  the  copper,  the  silver,  and  the  gold  which 
entered  into  the  material  of  the  tabernacle.  Copper 
appears  only  in  the  court,  gold  only  in  the  house ;  and 
the  two  meet  at  the  door  of  the  latter,  where  the  five 
pillars  stood  on  sockets  or  sills  of  copper,  but  had  capitals 

1  Ps.  xxxiii.  14. 


i 


286  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 


overlaid  with  gold.  Silver  edges  the  top  of  the  fence 
around  the  court,  and  the  sill  of  the  house  is  also  silver. 

These  phenomena  justify  the  conclusion  already 
announced,  that  gold  is  reserved  to  honor  the  house 
above  the  court ;  the  latter  representing  the  earthliness 
in  the  midst  of  which  Jehovah  had  fixed  his  habitation,  in 
distinction  from  the  heavenly  glory  of  the  habitation 
itself.  When  the  kingdom  of  God  is  represented  at  the 
end  of  the  New  Testament  in  its  final  stage,  the  habitation 
has  so  expanded  as  to  be  identical  with  the  court,  and 
then  copper  disappears  from  the  symbolism,  and  the 
only  metal  seen  is  pure  gold  ;  but  in  the  IMosaic  taber- 
nacle there  was  need  of  copper  to  represent  the  present 
earthly  condition  of  that  which  was  to  become  the  city 
of  God.  Accordingly  the  pillars  of  the  court  had  sills  of 
copper,  and  were  secured  in  place  with  pins  of  the  same 
material ;  the  sills  at  the  door  of  the  house,  as  they 
marked  the  boundary  between  the  house  and  the  court, 
were  of  the  metal  appropriate  to  the  latter ;  while  the 
pillars  themselves  belonged  to  the  house,  and  received 
a  corresponding  treatment.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
interior  of  the  house  was  resplendent  with  gold,  the 
walls  being  entirely  covered  with  the  most  precious  and 
the  most  beautiful  of  the  metals,  in  honor  of  its  regal 
and  divine  occupant. 

The  significance  of  the  silver  has  also  been  explained 
in  the  preliminary  chapter  on  the  symbolism  of  mineral 
substances.  This  metal  both  crowned  the  court,  and 
composed  the  sill  of  the  house,  to  present  another 
illustration  of  the  superiority  of  the  latter  over  the 
former.  As  the  metal  commonly  used  for  money,  and 
as  the  identical  silver  which,  in  the  form  of  half-shekels, 


INTERPRETATION'  OF  THE  EDIFICE.  287 

the  people  had  paid  for  their  redemption  from  the 
punishment  to  which  they  had  all  been  liable  as  unholy 
and  sinful,  it  symbolized  a  real  and  efficacious  redemp- 
tion, whereby  men  were  able  to  pass  from  the  court  to 
dwell  in  the  house  of  Jehovah  as  his  accepted  children, 
and  proclaimed  the  impossibility  of  ascending  from  the 
court  to  the  house,  except  as  redeemed  sinners. 

Of  vegetable  substances  in  the  material  of  the  taber- 
nacle, our  inquiry  respects  only  acacia-wood ;  the  linen 
drapery  having  symbolic  significance  only  as  a  vehicle 
of  the  four  sacred  colors,  and  of  the  composite  animal 
figures  in  which  those  colors  were  displayed.  We  have 
already  had  occasion  to  show  that  acacia  and  cedar  were 
synonymous,  denoting,  by  means  of  their  extraordinary 
capacity  to  resist  decay,  one  element  of  life.  It  was 
becoming,  that  whatever  timber  might  be  needful  in  a 
structure  designed  to  represent  the  union  between  God 
the  Saviour  and  his  redeemed  people,  as  a  means  of  life 
to  the  latter,  should  be  not  only  beautiful  and  fragrant, 
but  of  the  most  imperishable  species  which  could  be 
obtained.  Acacia  was  such  in  the  wilderness,  and  so 
was  cedar  at  Jerusalem.  There  might  have  been  no 
need  of  cedar  in  the  temple  of  Solomon  as  a  mark  of 
life,  but  for  the  absence  of  such  suggestiveness  in  the 
material  of  which  its  walls  were  constructed.  The  true 
temple,  of  which  both  the  Hebrew  sanctuaries  were 
shadows  cast  upon  the  realm  of  sense,  is  built  of  "  living 
stones  ;  "  but,  there  being  no  life  in  the  masses  of  rock 
which  David  and  Solomon  had  made  ready,  the  masonry 
was  lined  with  the  most  imperishable  timber  within 
reach,  to  continue  the  suggestion  of  life  conveyed  by  the 


288  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

acacia-wood  in  the  walls  of  the  tabernacle.  It  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  add  that  the  acacia-wood  in  the  pillars 
around  the  court  had  the  same  import  as  in  the  walls  of 
the  habitation. 

The  composite  animal  figures  produced  by  the  skill  of 
the  weaver  on  the  partition-veil  and  inner  curtain  of  the 
tabernacle  represented  creaturely  life  in  its  highest 
excellence,  such  as  was  found  in  paradise  before  the  fall, 
when  man  lived  in  intimate  companionship  with  God  ; 
and  such  as  there  will  be  in  the  restored  paradise  of  the 
New  Jerusalem,  when  "the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with 
'  men,  and  he  will  dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his 
people,  and  God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their 
God."  ^  These  cherubic  forms  symbolize  those  who 
"  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may  enter  in  through 
the  gates  into  the  city."  ^  They  represent  the  great  mul- 
titude of  the  redeemed  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue, 
and  people,  and  nation,  dwelling  with  God  in  fulness  of 
life. 

1  Rev.  zxL  3.  2  Rev.  xxiL  14. 


CHAPTER   XL 

INTERPRETATION    OF   THE   FURNITURE  .OF   THE 
TABERNACLE. 

The  court  was  chiefly  a  place  of  burnt-offerings : 
hence  the  significance  of  the  court  culminated  in  its 
altar. 

Immediately  after  the  promulgation  of  the  •  decalogue 
as  a  foundation  of  the  covenant,  Jehovah  gave  directions 
through  Moses  for  the  establishment  of  intercourse 
and  fellowship  with  himself.  The  order  was  given  in 
general  terms  suitable  for  all  occasions,  and  thus  left 
room  for  more  specific  directions  in  regard  to  the  altar 
afterward  built  for  the  court  of  the  tabernacle.  The 
statute  reads,  "  An  altar  of  earth  thou  shalt  make  unto 
me,  and  shalt  sacrifice  thereon  thy  burnt-offerings,  and 
thy  peace-offerings,  thy  sheep,  and  thine  oxen  :  in  all 
places  where  I  record  my  name  I  will  come  unto  thee, 
and  I  will  bless  thee.  And,  if  thou  wilt  make  me  an 
altar  of  stone,  thou  shalt  not  build  it  of  hewn  stone  ;  for, 
if  thou  lift  up  thy  tool  upon  it,  thou  hast  polluted  it. 
Neither  shalt  thou  go  up  by  steps  unto  mine  altar,  that 
thy  nakedness  be  not  discovered  thereon."  ^ 

It  appears  from  this  that  an  altar  must  be  of  earth,  or 
of   earthy   material,   unmodified   by   human   art.      The 

1  Exod.  XX.  24-26. 
25  289 


290  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

earth  was  the  scene  of  the  sacrifice,  as  heaven  was  the 
home  of  the  Being  to  whom  it  was  offered.  It  was 
earth,  however,  raised  up  toward  heaven,  the  conception 
of  an  altar  including  that  of  elevation.  In  both  the 
Latin  and  Greek  languages,  the  idea  of  altitude  is 
conveyed  in  the  etymology  of  the  word  which  denotes 
an  altar  for  the  worship  of  the  celestial  deities.^  Those 
words  are,  it  is  true,  more  properly  applied  to  the  upper 
part  of  the  structure,  there  being  beneath  it  a  base,  or 
platform,  extending  out  on  all  sides  on  which  the 
officiating  priests  went  around  the  altar  restrictively  so 
called  ;  but  often  the  word  included  the  whole  fabric. 
In  Hebrew,  the  slaughter  of  the  victims,  and  not  the 
height  of  the  platform  on  which  they  were  slain,  was 
suggested  by  the  etymology  of  the  word  denoting  that 
elevated  platform.  Height  is,  however,  as  essential  to  an 
altar  for  Hebrew  worship  as  if  contained  in  the  name 
itself.  It  might  be  built  of  earth,  or  of  stones  in  their 
natural  state  ;  but  it  must  be  elevated  to  show  that  the 
offering  laid  on  it  was  a  gift  from  earth  to  heaven, 
the  party  making  the  oblation  thus  bringing  it  as  near 
to  the  other  party  as  possible?  It  was  doubtless  with  the 
intent  of  carrying  out  this  representation  still  further 
that  the  Phoenician  tribes  with  which  the  Hebrews  were 
surrounded  in  the  land  of  their  inheritance  built  altars 
on  hills,  as  if  by  means  of  such  "  high  places "  they 
would  approach  nearer  to  the  objects  of  their  worship ; 
but  the  law  of  Moses  gave  no  countenance  to  such  a 

1  See  Andrews'  Latin  Lexicon,  art.  Altare ;  Liddell  and  Scott's  Greek  Lexicon, 
art.  Bw/z6f ;  and  Creuzer's  Symbolik,  vol.  iii.  p.  764.  To  the  Dii  terrestrcs  and 
the  Dii  infcrni,  offerings  might  be  made  on  an  altar  not  elevated ;  but  the  Dii  siiperi 
required  'Cat  altare  in  distinction  from  the  ara. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FURNITURE. 


291 


practice^  merely  requiring  that  an  altar  should  be  higher 
than  the  ground  on  which  it  was  erected. 

It  further  appears,  from  the  statute  concerning  altars 
in  general,  that  they  were  places  where  God  came  to 
meet  his  people.  An  altar  was,  like  the  tabernacle,  a 
place  of  meeting  between  the  two  parties,  the  people 
offering  their  gifts,  and  he  communicating  his  blessing. 
As  the  site  of  the  tabernacle  is  designated  as  the  place 
where  Jehovah  had  set  his  name,  so  in  this  statute  he 
promises  to  record  his  name  wherever  his  people  erected 
an  altar.  The  idea  conveyed  in  the  tabernacle  with  all 
its  elaborate  symbolism  was,  in  germ  at  least,  contained 
in  any  pile  of  earth  or  unhewn  stones  built  for  the 
purpose  of  sacrificing  ;  the  worshippers  being  raised  up 
by  it,  and  God  coming  down  to  meet  and  bless  his 
worshipping  people. 

This  statute,  being  promulgated  before  the  direction  to 
construct  the  tabernacle  and  its  altar,  provides,  by  the 
prohibition  of  steps,  that  the  person  who  officiates  shall 
not  expose  his  nakedness ;  but  such  an  exposure,  so 
incongruous  with  the  sacredness  of  the  employment,  was 
still  more  effectually  guarded  against  in  the  service  of 
the  tabernacle  by  means  of  the  drawers  which  the 
priests  must  not  fail  to  put  on  before  they  ministered 
at  the  altar. 

In  other  cases,  an  altar  was  said  to  be  built,  or  ele- 
vated ;  but  the  portable  structure  used  as  such  in  the 
tabernacle  is  spoken  of  as  made,  or  constructed,  because 
it  had  a  frame  of  wood  overlaid  with  copper.  This 
frame  was  probably  filled  with  earth  to  answer  the 
requirements  of  the  general  statute.  There  is  no 
intimation  of  this,  indeed,  in  the  writings  of  Moses  ;  but 


292  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

neither  does  he  mention  any  other  expedient  for  holding 
the  fire  in  place.  Copper  as  dug  out  of  the  ground, 
similar  to  it  in  color,  and  inferior  to  that  metal  which 
among  metals  represented  celestial  glory,  was  appropri- 
ately associated  with  earth  in  an  altar  belonging  to  a 
permanent  and  yet  portable  institution.  By  the  affinity 
of  the  copper  with  the  earth,  this  frame  of  an  altar, 
which  could  be  carried  from  place  to  place,  fulfilled  the 
same  end  in  the  expression  of  thought  as  an  altar  of 
earth. 

The  wood  being,  in  the  first  place,  designed  for  a 
frame  on  which  the  copper  might  be  fastened  so  as  to 
give  sufficient  size  and  strength  without  too  great 
weight,  was  of  acacia  for  the  same  reason  which  required 
this  particular  species  of  timber  in  the  planks  of  the 
house,  and  the  pillars  of  the  court.  The  tabernacle 
being  a  place  of  life,  acacia-wood,  on  account  of  its 
superiority  to  decay,  was  sought  for  every  purpose 
which  was  to  be  answered  with  wood,  whether  in  the 
edifice  or  its  furniture. 

Not  only  the  frame,  or  wall  of  the  altar,  was  of  acacia 
covered  with  copper,  but  also  the  horns ;  and  this  fact 
may  help  to  determine  the  significance  of  these  pro- 
jections. The  horn  is,  in  cornute  animals,  the  instru- 
ment of  power,  and  thence  becomes  an  emblem  of 
strength,  and  as  such  is  congruous  with  all  the  other 
elements  combined  in  the  altar  as  a  symbol.  It  has, 
accordingly,  been  commonly  understood  that  the  horns 
of  the  altar  represented  the  power  of  its  ministrations. 
But  recently  it  has  been  suggested  ^  that,  among  the 
metaphorical  significations  of  the  horn,  height  was  no  less 

1  Hofmann :  Schriftbeweis.    Nordlingen,  1859.   Vol.  ii.  r.  p.  257. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FURNITURE. 


293 


appropriate  than  strength  as  an  attribute  of  an  altar. 
The  horn  is  the  highest  part  of  the  animal,  carried  aloft 
as  a  badge  of  power  and  the  honor  consequent  on 
power,  and  therefore  used  as  a  sign  of  elevation.  To 
lift  up  the  horn  is  to  exalt,  either  in  the  physical  or  in  a 
figurative  sense.  A  horn  is  something  lifted,  or  raised 
up.  The  word  is  applied  to  a  hill  in  the  passage,  "  My 
well  beloved  hath  a  vineyard  in  the  horrj  of  the  son  of 
oil,"  ^  i.e.,  in  a  very  fruitful  hill.  Other  languages  make 
use  of  the  metaphor  in  a  similar  way.  ^  The  horns  of 
an  altar  may  be  intended,  therefore,  to  symbolize  still 
more  emphatically  the  elevation  of  the  earth  on  which 
the  sacrifice  is  offered  toward  heaven,  the  residence 
of  the  Being  to  whom  it  is  presented.  The  copper  with 
which  the  horns  were  overlaid  seems  to  countenance  this 
interpretation.  May  not  both  shades  of  meaning  be  com- 
prehended in  one  and  the  same  emblem.-*  The  horns 
elevating  the  place  of  sacrifice  nearer  to  heaven,  the 
efficacy  of  the  altar  was  especially  conspicuous  in  these 
symbols  of  elevation. 

The  altars  of  antiquity  varied  in  form  according  to  the 
different  nationality  of  the  worshippers.  Those  of 
Greece  and  Rome  were  usually  round  ;  but  all  Hebrew 
altars  were  four-sided,  being  thus  stamped  with  the 
numerical  signature  of  that  kingdom  of  God  in  which 
he  reveals  himself  to  his  people  as  a  Redeemer  and 
Saviour  as  in  the  material  universe  he  reveals  other 
aspects. 

The  dimensions  of  the  altar  are  such  that  the  number 
expressing  its  length  and  its  breadth  is  the  same  which 

1  Isa.  V.  I,  marginal  reading. 

2  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary,  art.  Horn. 
25* 


294  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

dominates  in  the  court ;  but  no  significance  is  to  be 
attached  to  this,  since  the  number  is  not  preserved  in 
the  altar  of  burnt-offerings  in  the  court  of  the  temple. 
Indeed,  a  comparison  of  the  tabernacle  with  the  tem- 
ple leads  to  the  conclusion  that  in  both  sanctuaries  the 
dimensions  of  the  furniture  were  determined  by  other 
considerations  than  symbolic  significance.  Five  cubits 
square  was  a  convenient  size  for  the  altar  in  the  court  of 
the  tabernacle,  while  for  the  larger  sanctuary  of  later 
days  an  altar  twenty  cubits  on  a  side  being  neither  too 
large  nor  too  small,  that  was  the  measure  which  Solomon 
was  instructed  to  appoint.^ 

During  the  journeys  of  the  Hebrews  from  station  to 
station,  the  altar  of  burnt-offerings  was  covered  with  a 
cloth  of  purple,^  being  the  only  article  of  the  sacred 
furniture  to  which  this  color  was  assigned.  We  are  to 
understand,  therefore,  that  it  was  especially  representative 
of  the  regal  majesty  of  Jehovah,  maintaining  by  means  of 
its  sacrifices,  honorary  and  expiatory,  the  authority  of  the 
king  while  he  was  dispensing  forgiveness  and  favor. 

The  laver  between  the  altar  and  the  house,  having  in 
itself  no  significance,  is  not  described  in  the  specifica- 
tions. It  provided,  however,  for  a  very  significant 
ceremony,  since  it  contained  a  supply  of  water  that  the 
priests  might  wash  their  hands  and  their  feet  when  they 
went  into  the  habitation,  or  ministered  at  the  altar.  The 
entire  function  of  the  priesthood  consisted  in  the  two 
branches  of  service  here  indicated,  since  it  was  with 
the  feet  that  they  entered  the  sanctuary,  and  with  the 
hands  that  they  served  at  the  altar.     Hence  the  require- 

1  2  Chron.  iv.  i.  2  Num.  iv.  13. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FURNITURE. 


29s 


ment  that  the  hands  and  the  feet,  rather  than  other  parts 
of  the  body,  should  be  washed.  It  denoted  that,  though 
consecrated  to  the  sacred  office,  they  nevertheless  on 
account  of  their  uncleanness  by  nature  and  by  contact 
with  the  impurities  of  the  people,  needed  a  special  puri- 
fication before  every  official  act.  They  might  not  touch 
the  vessels  of  Jehovah  with  their  hands,  nor  place  their 
feet  within  his  dwelling,  without  a  reminder  that  he  is 
holy,  and  has  chosen  his  people  in  order  that  they  also 
may  become  holy. 

As  the  officiating  priest  entered  the  holy  place,  he 
beheld  on  his  right  hand  the  table  of  show-bread ;  on  the 
opposite  side,  the  chandelier ;  and  at  the  further  end  of 
the  apartment,  midway  between  the  side  walls,  the  altar 
of  incense.  Of  these  we  propose  to  speak  in  the  order 
in  which  they  have  just  been  mentioned. 

The  table  was  furnished  with  two  dishes  for  bread, 
two  for  frankincense,  and  probably  two  for  wine.  Twelve 
flat  loaves  of  bread  in  two  piles  constantly  stood  on  it, 
fresh  loaves  being  brought  every  sabbath,  and  the  loaves 
which  were  removed  being  eaten  by  the  priests  only. 
The  number  of  the  loaves  doubtless  indicates  that  the 
whole  covenant  people,  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  were 
to  participate  in  this  offering  to  their  covenant  God.  On 
the  top  of  each  pile  was  a  dish  of  frankincense,  and  near 
by  were  cups  of  wine,  as  seems  probable  from  the 
description  of  the  dishes  as  suitable  to  pour  with.^  The 
Septuagint  calls  them  bowls  and  cups ;  and  the  Jewish 
tradition  is,  that  they  contained  wine  for  a  libation,  or 
drink-offering,  such  as  accompanied  every  food-offering 

1  Exod.  XXV.  29,  margin ;  Num.  iv.  7,  margin. 


296  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

at  the  altar  in  the  court.  The  table  of  show-bread  was 
in  some  sense  an  altar,  being  the  appointed  place  where 
certain  offerings  to  Jehovah  were  to  be  placed  before  him. 
The  materials  of  these  sacrifices  were  the  same  as  those 
of  the  food-offerings  and  drink-offerings  in  the  court. 

We  have  already  endeavored  to  show  that  corn  and 
wine,  or  bread  and  wine,  being  the  product  of  the  life- 
work  of  the  Hebrews,  represented,  in  the  symbolism  of 
the  tabernacle,  the  fruit  of  work  in  the  higher  sphere 
where  one  labors  not  for  perishable  food,  but  for  that 
which  endureth  unto  everlasting  life.  As  the  husband- 
man ploughs  and  sows,  reaps  and  threshes,  grinds  the 
wheat  into  flour,  and  converts  his  flour  into  bread,  as  he 
plants  and  prunes  his  vineyard,  gathers  the  grapes,  and 
expresses  their  juice  into  the  wine-vat ;  so  the  true 
Israelite,  who  is  alive  unto  God,  produces  the  fruit  of 
holiness,  and  enjoys  the  product  of  his  diligence,  as  truly 
as  the  tiller  of  the  earth  has  pleasure  in  the  bread  and 
wine  with  which  he  has  supplied  his  table.  This  is  the 
true  bread  from  heaven  of  which  wheat,  manna,  and  other 
kinds  of  food,  are  figures  ;  it  is  not  only  the  life-product 
of  those  who  have  been  born  again,  but  their  chief 
enjoyment,  the  sufficient  reward  of  all  their  labor. 
Knowing,  however,  that  God  has  even  more  desire  for 
the  sanctification  of  his  people  than  they  themselves 
have,  they  wish  him  to  enjoy  with  them  the  fruits  of 
this  spiritual  husbandry.  It  is  this  fellowship  of  God 
with  his  people  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  sanctification 
which  the  show-bread  represents.  They  here  set  before 
him  in  symbol  the  fruits  of  their  diligence  in  the  labor 
of  the  new  life.  They  bring  the  offering  by  his  own 
appointment,  and  keep  it  perpetually  before  him,  that  he 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FURNITURE.         zc^'j 

may  enjoy  with  them  the  results  of  their  work,  as  he  has 
also  shared  in  producing  them  ;  for  in  spiritual,  as  well 
as  in  natural  husbandry,  man  is  only  a  co-worker  with 
God.  So  true  is  it  that  Jehovah  participates  with  his 
people  in  the  production  of  the  true  bread,  that  our  Lord,^ 
while  exhorting  his  hearers  to  labor  for  the  food  which 
endureth  unto  everlasting  life,  claims  that  he  himself, 
as  sent  by  the  Father,  is  "  the  true  bread  from  heaven," 
"  the  bread  of  life,"  "  the  bread  of  God,"  meaning  that 
sanctification  is  attainable  only  through  him.  This,  says 
he,  is  the  work  of  God,  that  ye  believe  on  him  whom  he 
hath  sent.  It  was  only  by  thus  co-operating  with  God 
in  their  spiritual  husbandry,  that  they  could  have  fellow- 
ship with  him  in  the  enjoyment  of  its  fruits. 

The  wine  and  frankincense  which  accompanied  the 
bread  added  something  to  its  significance  :  the  former, 
being  the  constant  adjunct  of  bread,  was  needful  to  give 
fulness  of  meaning  to  the  symbol  of  life-work  and  of 
enjoyment ;  and  the  latter  connected  the  bread  which 
was  a  kind  of  sacrifice,  "  an  offering  from  the  children  of 
Israel,"  with  prayer.  All  offerings  by  fire  to  Jehovah 
must  be  accompanied  with  frankincense  ;  and  that  spice 
was  placed  on  the  bread  to  show  that,  though  not  literally 
consumed  with  fire,  it  was  a  sacrifice  in  the  same  sense 
as  the  offerings  by  fire,  and  therefore  not  to  be  divorced 
from  prayer.  The  statute  reads,  "  Thou  shalt  put  pure 
frankincense  upon  each  row  [pile],  that  it  may  be  on  the 
bread  for  a  memorial,  even  an  offering  made  by  fire  unto 
Jehovah  (every  sabbath  he  shall  set  it  in  order  before 
Jehovah  continually),  from  the  children  of  Israel  by  an 
everlasting  covenant."  ^ 

1  John  vi,  2  Lev.  xxiv.7,  8. 


298  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

The  loaves,  when  placed  on  the  table,  are  called 
show-bread,  or  bread  of  the  presence  or  face.  The 
designation  thus  applied  to  the  bread,  and  not  to 
the  incense  or  to  the  lamps  which  were  equally  in  the 
presence  of  God,  may  have  been  intended  to  show 
unmistakably  that  they  were  placed  there  not  to  be 
eaten,  but  to  be  seen.  The  old  loaves  were,  it  is  true, 
eaten  by  the  priests,  but  not  till  they  had  been  removed 
from  the  table  which  always  stood  so  furnished  as  to 
present  to  the  eye  of  God  a  reminder  of  the  good  deeds 
of  his  people.  Bread  of  the  presence  is  a  cumulative 
appellation,  meaning  more  than  mere  bread,  because 
the  loaves  constantly  remained  before  Jehovah  as  a 
memorial. 

But  though  it  was  bread  of  the  presence,  and  not  to 
be  actually  eaten  while  on  the  table  by  either  party,  it 
symbolized  such  enjoyment  as  is  experienced  not  in 
eating  merely,  but  in  eating  together.  Among  the 
Orientals,  a  table  was  an  emblem  of  fellowship  ;  so  that 
our  Lord  puts  the  treachery  of  Judas  in  the  strongest 
light  by  saying,  "  Behold,  the  hand  of  him  that  betrayeth 
me  is  with  me  on  the  table."  ^  So  the  apostle  has  in 
mind  the  same  symbolic  significance  of  a  table,  when  he 
tells  the  Corinthians  that,  if  disposed  to  accept  an 
invitation  to  a  feast  given  by  a  heathen,  they  might  eat 
whatever  was  set  before  them  without  asking  any 
question ;  since,  even  if  the  food  had  been  placed  on 
the  altar  of  a  false  god,  the  idol  was  nothing,  and  the 
food  as  a  product  of  the  earth  belonged  to  the  true  God ; 
but  adds  that,  if  informed  that  any  part  of  the  feast  had 
been  offered  in  sacrifice  to  an  idol,  they  ought  to  avoid 

1  Luke  xxii.  21. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FURNITURE. 


299 


partaking  of  it,  lest  they  should  be  regarded  by  the 
informer  as  participating  not  in  a  common  meal,  but  in 
a  sacrificial  feast,  as  Israelites  after  the  flesh  were 
partakers  of  the  altar  when  they  feasted  on  the  flesh  of 
peace-offerings,  and  as  Christians  commune  with  Christ 
at  the  Lord's  table. 

Such  symbolization  of  the  table  is  frequently  employed 
in  the  New  Testament  to  show  the  spiritual  fellowship 
between  Christ  and  his  people,  when  the  kingdom  of 
God  shall  have  advanced  to  a  later  stage  of  development. 
Our  Lord  himself  says  to  his  disciples,  "  I  appoint  unto 
you  a  kingdom,  as  my  Father  hath  appointed  unto  me  ; 
that  ye  may  eat  and  drink  at  my  table  in  my  kingdom."  ^ 
That  this  mode  of  expressing  the  thought  was  not 
peculiar  to  him,  is  evident  from  the  use  of  a  similar 
phrase  by  a  person,  who,  on  another  and  previous 
occasion,  exclaimed,  "  Blessed  is  he  that  shall  eat  bread 
in  the  kingdom  of  God."^  Still  another  testimony  to 
the  prevalence  of  this  mode  of  speaking  is  found  in  the 
Apocalypse,  where  John  is  directed  to  write,  "  Blessed  are 
they  who  are  called  unto  the  marriage-supper  of  the 
Lamb."  ^ 

The  form  of  the  table  appears  to  have  been  deter- 
mined by  symbolism  only  so  far  as  it  was  four-sided. 
The  tables  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  were  sometimes 
circular ;  ^  but  neither  a  round  nor  a  triangular  table 
would  have  harmonized  with  the  tabernacle,  for  every 
thing  which  belonged  to  the  institution  must  have  the 
quadrangular  form  to  stamp  upon  it  the  signature  of 
the  kingdom  of  God.     The  significance  of  acacia-wood 

1  Luke  xxii.  29,  30.  2  Luke  xiv,  15.  3  Rev.  xix.  9. 

4  See  Fiske's  Manual  of  Classical  Literature,  Philadelphia  1843,  p.  293. 


300  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

and  of  gold  has  already  been  explained,  so  that  it  is  only 
necessary  to  notice  the  fact  that  the  table  was  con- 
structed of  these  emblems  of  life  and  glory. 

An  ornamental  band  of  leaves  and  flowers  wrought  in 
solid  gold  surrounded  the  table  ;  indeed,  there  is  much 
reason  to  think  there  were  two  such  crowns.^  These 
souvenirs  of  vegetable  life  attached  to  the  table,  and 
to  the  place  in  which  it  stood,  the  idea  of  life.  This 
was,  throughout  the  ancient  world,  the  significance  of 
a  crown  of  leaves  and  flowers.  The  vital  vigor  of  a 
plant  reaches  its  highest  development  in  the  materials 
of  such  a  garland,  and  therefore  they  become  symbolic. 
But,  when  used  as  an  emblem  by  the  heathen  in  their 
worship  of  Nature,  a  crown  signified  life  in  a  physical, 
and  not  in  an  ethical  sense.  A  necklace  of  lotus-flowers 
on  an  Egyptian  mummy  was  a  promise  of  resurrection 
to  such  a  life  as  had  been  lost.^  But,  in  Mosaism,  life 
meant  holiness  and  its  accompanying  joy.  It  was  by 
dwelling  with  Jehovah  in  his  holy  habitation  that  the 
ancient  Hebrew  was  made  alive,  as  it  is  now  by  personal 
intimacy  with  the  true  God,  and  the  Anointed  whom  he 
has  sent,  that  the  Christian  receives  eternal  life.  This 
union  of  the  soul  with  God  was  symbolized  in  the 
tabernacle  in  many,  indeed,  one  might  say  in  all  possible 
ways.  The  highest  developments  of  both  animal  and 
vegetable  vitality  were  grouped  in  the  interior  to  show 
that  it  was  the  place  of  life,  the  habitation  of  the  Living 
One  who  has  life  in  himself,  and  of  those  to  whom  he 
has  imparted  his  own  quickening  Spirit.  This  garland 
of  leaves  and  flowers  around  the  table  shows  that  the 

1  Exod.xxxvii.  ii,  12. 

2  Creuzer :  Symbolik,  ii.  45. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FURNITURE. 


301 


bjead  is  the  bread  of  life,  of  which  if  a  man  eat,  he  shall 
never  die  and  never  hunger. 

When  the  encampment  was  to  be  broken  up,  the  table 
of  show-bread  was  first  covered  with  a  cloth  of  blue  ; 
the  full  service  of  its  golden  dishes  with  the  continual 
bread  thereon  was  set  in  the  usual  order;  and  then  a 
cloth  of  crimson  was  laid  over  the  whole.  No  other 
article  of  the  furniture  was  invested  with  this  color  in 
preparation  for  removal.  Crimson  was  the  peculiar 
badge  of  the  table  among  the  utensils  of  the  interior,  as 
they  were  distinguished,  on  the  other  hand,  by  the  cloth 
of  blue  from  the  purple-clad  altar  of  the  court.  After 
what  has  been  said  on  the  symbolism  of  color,  it  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  explain  the  import  of  the  crimson 
cover  over  the  table  of  show-bread.  It  concurred  with 
and  intensified  the  testimony  of  the  crown  of  leaves  and 
flowers  that  the  show-bread  was  the  bread  of  life. 

Opposite  the  table  was  the  chandelier,  or  lamp-stand. 
The  light  emitted  by  the  lamps  may  have  been  some- 
times useful  to  the  priests  in  their  ministrations  ;  but, 
as  respects  mere  utility,  an  equal  number  of  lamps 
distributed  throughout  the  apartment  would  have  been 
more  serviceable.  Their  aggregation  on  one  stand,  and 
the  significant  seven  by  which  the  number  of  them  is 
determined,  both  indicate  that  they  were  placed  here  to 
assist  in  the  representation  of  religious  thought.  Their 
position  with  reference  to  the  table  suggests  the  possi- 
bility that  the  light  was,  in  its  symbolism,  the  comple- 
ment of  the  show-bread. 

With  this  hint  in  mind,  we  ask,  What  is  it  of  which 

light  is  the  natural  emblem  }     Sometimes  it  is  used  for 
26 


302  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

knowledge,  and  especially  for  the  knowledge  of  God 
and  his  relations  to  man.  Knowledge  is  light ;  and  to 
impart  knowledge  is  to  enlighten.  The  figure  is  capable, 
however,  of  expressing  something  broader  and  deeper 
than  intellectual  apprehension  of  truth.  In  fact,  the 
import  of  light  in  the  Scriptures  usually  extends  beyond 
the  sphere  of  the  intellect  into  that  of  the  conscience, 
covering  the  domain  of  duty  as  well  as  of  verity.  The 
children  of  light  are  those  who  obey,  as  well  as  perceive, 
the  reality  of  the  invisible  and  eternal.  Hence  those 
who  are  the  light  of  the  world  not  only  impart  knowl- 
edge to  the  ignorant,  but  reproof  to  the  erring.  The 
text,  "Ye  were  sometime  darkness,  but  now  are  ye 
light  in  the  Lord :  walk  as  children  of  the  light,  .  .  , 
and  have  no  fellowship  with  the  unfruitful  works  of 
darkness,"  ^  implies  that  a  holy  life  reproves  sin  as  light 
shames  into  decency  those  who  in  darkness  would  do 
abominable  deeds.  The  admonition,  "Do  all  things 
without  murmurings  and  disputings,  that  ye  may  be 
blameless  and  harmless,  the  sons  of  God,  without  rebuke, 
in  the  midst  of  a  crooked  and  perverse  nation,  among 
whom  ye  shine  as  lights  in  the  world,  holding  forth  the 
word  of  life,"  ^  involves  both  obedience  to  the  word  of 
life  in  those  who  hold  it  forth,  and  a  diffusive  influence 
in  such  obedience. 

We  conclude,  therefore,  that  in  Hebrew  symbolism 
light  includes  holiness,  as  well  as  knowledge.  The 
offering  of  light  which  the  covenant  people  brought  as 
an  accompaniment  to  the  fruit  of  their  life-work  was  the 
symbol  of  sanctified  character.  The  two  symbols  are 
mutually  complementary.     The  prayers  and  the  alms  of 

1  Eph.  V.  8  et  seq,  2  phil.  ii.  14  et  seq. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FURNITURE.         303 

a  good  man  come  up  as  a  memorial  before  God  ;  and 
his  example,  by  holding  forth  the  word  of  life,  diffuses 
an  assimilating  influence. 

But  this  Ifght  of  holiness,  man  is  as  unable  to  produce 
of  himself  as  is  a  lamp  to  shine  without  oil,  and  oil  is 
the  symbol  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  so  that  the  oblation  of 
light  which  the  covenant  people  presented  to  Jehovah  in 
the  tabernacle  contained  in  itself  a  declaration  that  they 
were  sanctified  by  the  indwelling  Spirit  of  God.  The 
same  idea  was  again  brought  to  view  in  the  number  of 
the  lamps ;  seven  representing  a  transaction  between 
God  and  man,  and  therefore  in  Mosaism  standing  for 
the  covenant  itself.  The  illumination  was  effected  by  the 
co-operation  of  the  infinite  and  the  finite ;  and  the  lamps 
were  seven  because  that  is  the  sum  of  the  numerical 
signatures  of  the  two  parties  united  in  producing  the 
light. 

The  lamp-stand  served  not  merely  to  bear  the  lamps, 
but  to  assist  in  the  symbolism.  It  represents  the 
covenant  people,  the  organized  community,  who  by  the 
example  of  their  obedience  shine  for  the  illumination  of 
the  world.  For  under  the  old  covenant,  as  under  the 
new,  the  church  is  the  pillar  and  stand  of  the  truth, 
holding  forth  and  diffusing  its  light.  The  seven 
branches  of  the  stand  indicate  that  it  is  not  a  merely 
human  institution,  but  that  God  is  in  the  midst  of  it,  as 
in  the  Apocalypse  our  Lord  was  seen  v/alking  in  the 
midst  of  the  seven  golden  chandeliers  which  represented 
the  churches  of  Asia. 

The  peculiar  ornamentation  of  the  shaft  and  the 
branches  was  derived  from  the  vegetable  world,  and 
was  doubtless  parallel  in  import  with  the  crown  of  leaves 


304  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

and  flowers  attached  to  all  other  utensils  of  the  house. 
The  flowers  were  in  this  case,  if  not  in  the  others,  those 
of  the  almond,  the  earliest  tree  to  blossom  and  sprout  in 
the  spring.^  A  branch  of  an  almond-tree  was  the  sign 
which  God  gave  to  Jeremiah  that  the  word  he  was 
commissioned  to  declare  should  be  speedily  fulfilled. 
"  Jeremiah,  what  seest  thou  "i  And  I  said,  I  see  a  rod  of 
an  almond-tree.  Then  said  the  Lord  unto  me.  Thou 
hast  well  seen :  for  I  will  hasten  my  word  to  perform 
it."  2  This  tree  being  the  earliest  manifestation  of 
vitality  in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  its  buds,  flowers,  and 
fruit,  when  employed  in  the  representation  of  religious 
thought,  were  expressive  symbols  of  life.  It  was  thus 
that  they  signified  that  Aaron-and  his  sons  were  chosen 
to  draw  near  to  Jehovah  when,  each  tribe  having  brought 
a  branch  of  this  tree,  Aaron's  rod  produced  buds,  leaves, 
and  fruit,  while  the  others  exhibited  no  such  phenomena.^ 
The  superior  vitality  of  Aaron's  rod  proved  that  he  was 
called  to  approach  the  Living  One,  and  be  the  medium 
through  which  life  might  be  imparted  to  the  people. 
In  like  manner  the  blossoms,  fruit,  and  leaf-buds  of 
the  almond-tree,  introduced  into  the  ornamentation  of  the 
chandelier,  were  designed  to  show  that  the  light  emitted 
from  its  lamps  was  the  light  of  life  ;  that  in  the  church, 
as  in  its  Lord,  is  life,  and  the  life  is  the  light  of  men. 

The  chandelier  was  the  only  article  of  furniture  in  the 
tabernacle  made  of  solid  gold ;  but  we  are  not  to 
conclude  that  it  was  therefore  of  superior  dignity.     The 

1  The  almond-tree,  TPt-')  derives  its  name  from  1Ty^,io  wake.  It  is,  says 
Gesenius,  the  waker :  so  called  as  being  the  earliest  of  all  trees  to  awake  from  the 
sleep  of  winter. 

2  Jer.  i.  II,  12.        8  Num.  xviL 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FURNITURE.         305 

Other  utensils  were  probably  made  of  wood  to  diminish 
their  weight ;  but  such  a  device  was  unnecessary  and 
perhaps  impracticable  in  the  case  of  the  chandelier. 
When  the  others  were  plated,  they  were  all  equal  in 
splendor  of  appearance,  and  in  the  symbolism  of  the 
metal  which  imparted  such  glory.  Nothing  less  splendid 
than  gold  would  have  been  proper  in  the  habitation  of 
the  heavenly  King. 

Of  the  three  articles  of  furniture  in  the  outer  apart- 
ment, the  altar  of  incense  occupied  the  place  of  highest 
honor,  being  directly  in  front  of  the  holy  of  holies,  and 
as  near  the  partition-veil  as  the  burning  of  incense 
permitted. 

Although  in  no  way  connected  with  bloody  sacrifices, 
it  bears  the  same  name  as  the  altar  in  the  court,  a 
name  derived  from  the  slaughter  of  animals.  This  fact 
indicates  a  close  affinity  of  some  kind  with  the  structure 
from  which  it  derives  a  name  so  foreign  to  its  ministra- 
tions. It  was  indeed  an  altar  in  the  sense  that  oblations 
to  Jehovah  were  placed  upon  it,  and  that  he  was  under 
engagement  there  to  meet  his  people,  accept  their 
offerings,  and  communicate  his  blessing.  The  name, 
though  originally  implying  the  slaughter  of  animals,  had, 
by  a  broader  application,  come  to  denote  any  elevation 
on  which  either  vegetable  or  animal  sacrifices  were 
presented.  But,  being  an  altar  only  in  a  secondary 
meaning  of  the  word,  it  was  not  within  the  scope  of  the 
statute  which  required  that  every  altar  to  which  slain 
victims  were  brought  should  be  of  earth  or  of  unhewn 
stones. 

The  altar  of  incense  was  the  place  where  those  whose 
26* 


3o6  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

sins  had  been  expiated  with  bloody  sacrifices  in  the 
court  presented  to  Jehovah  the  oblation  of  prayer.  It 
signified  that,  as  the  incense  diffused  a  sweet  odor,  so 
the  prayers  of  his  redeemed  and  sanctified  household 
are  a  delight  to  the  heavenly  King.  We  are  not  only 
assured  by  the  testimony  of  Scripture  that  this  interpre- 
tation is  correct,  but  are  able  to  discover  such  a 
correspondence  between  the  incense  and  the  worship, 
that  they  would  naturally  be  associated,  and  become 
mutually  suggestive,  in  the  Oriental  mind.  For  in  prayer 
the  soul  breathes  forth  the  holy  affections  which  are 
immanent  in  it  as  the  fragrance  is  in  the  spices  before 
they  are  thrown  upon  the  censer.  Worship  brings  into 
lively  exercise  and  consciousness  the  admiration,  grati- 
tude, filial  confidence,  and  devotion  which  characterize 
the  household  of  God.  In  their  presentation  of  such 
feelings,  he  takes  great  delight :  so  that  the  symbolism 
in  which  the  Orientals  represented  worship  by  means  of 
sweet  spices,  exhaling  odors  in'  the  highest  degree 
grateful  to  the  bodily  sense,  is  by  no  means  arbitrary, 
but  founded  in  nature. 

The  altar  itself  was  an  element  in  the  representation, 
showing  that  the  incense  was  offered  to  Jehovah,  and 
presented  at  a  place  by  him  appointed  for  such  service. 
It  was  called  the  golden  altar  in  distinction  from  that 
in  the  court,  which  was  of  copper  ;.  but  the  metal  was,  in 
this  case  as  in  that,  laid  over  a  frame  of  acacia.  Both 
the  metal  and  the  wood  have  been  already  interpreted  ; 
and  we  need  only  pause  to  observe  that  the  metal 
corresponds  with  the  place  in  which  the  altar  stood,  as 
the  copper  on  the  altar  of  burnt-offering  corresponded 
with  the  earlier  and  more  earthly  state  of  the  kingdom 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FURNITURE.         307 

of  God  represented  in  the  court.  The  golden  garland 
surrounding  this  altar,  just  above  the  rings  by  which  it 
was  carried,  had  the  same  meaning  as  the  similar 
ornament  around  the  table. 

By  collating  the  symbolism  of  the  three  utensils  in 
the  outer  chamber,  we  find  that  collectively  they 
represent  an  oblation  to  Jehovah  on  the  part  of  those 
who  are  permitted  to  draw  near  to  him,  consisting  of 
good  works,  good  influence,  and  acceptable  worship. 

Such  offerings  are  appropriate  to  the  place  as  the 
habitation  of  God,  and  to  the  persons  who  present  them 
as  members  of  his  household.  The  service  here  rep- 
resented is  that  which  one  renders  who  has  come  to 
the  consciousness  of  God's  fatherhood,  and  has  trusted 
the  divine  promise  to  absolve  from  guilt,  but  has  not  yet 
been  admitted  within  the  veil  which  conceals  the  glories 
of  eternity  ;  who  still  walks  by  faith,  and  not  by  sight.  It 
is  a  service  which  could  be  rendered,  under  the  dispen- 
sation then  existing,  only  on  the  ground  of  an  expiation 
of  sin  symbolized  in  the  sacrifices  of  the  court,  and  to  be 
realized  at  some  time  in  the  future.  It  was  therefore 
rendered  through  priestly  representatives.  It  is  the  ser- 
vice which  now,  when  expiation  is  complete  by  the  death 
of  Christ,  is  rendered  not  by  representative  priests,  but 
by  all  members  of  the  Christian  church,  till  they  are 
called  one  by  one  within  the  veil.  This  service  will 
continue  to  be  rendered  by  the  successive  generations  of 
believers  onward  to  the  second  advent  of  Christ. 

As  the  sacrifices  of  the  court  were  terminated  at  his 
first  advent,  by  the  one  offering  which  needed  no 
repetition,  so  the  rites  of  the  outer  apartment  will  cease 


3o8  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

at  his  second  coming,  by  the  reception  of  those  who 
perform  them  into  the  lioly  of  holies,  where  he,  as  our 
forerunner,  has  already  entered.  No  sooner  had  he 
completed  his  work  of  expiation,  than  the  partition- veil 
between  the  two  chambers  was  rent  in  twain  to  signify 
that,  redemption  having  advanced  to  the  second  stage 
of  its  historical  development,  those  who  formerly  wor- 
shipped only  in  the  court  might  now  enter  the  habitation, 
and  draw  near  to  God  in  person;  might  even,  through 
their  representative  and  forerunner,  pa'ss  within  the  veil. 
The  Christian  may  not,  it  is  true,  while  in  the  mortal 
body  enter  the  holy  of  holies ;  but  by  faith  he  follows 
his  great  high-priest  to  the  mercy-seat,  as  the  pious 
Hebrew,  standing  in  the  court,  followed  in  like  manner 
the  officiating  priest  to  the  table,  the  chandelier,  and  the 
golden  altar. 

We  are  now  to  interpret  the  significance  of  the  ark  of 
the  covenant. 

The  fact  that  it  was  designed  for  the  safe-keeping  of 
the  two  tablets  on  which  the  decalogue  was  written,  is 
one  of  many  indications  that  these  tablets  were  regarded 
as  very  precious.  If  one  observes  that  the  ten  words 
were  inscribed  on  stone  for  the  sake  of  permanence  ;  that 
this  durable  record  was  preserved  in  a  chest  specially 
constructed  for  the  purpose ;  that  this  depository  of  the 
inscription  was  the  sole  furniture  of  that  apartment  in 
the  tabernacle,  which  was  not  merely  the  holiest  of  all, 
but  accessible  only  through  the  outer  chamber  and  the 
court ;  that  the  tabernacle  itself  was  the  centre  of  the 
encampment,  being  surrounded  first  by  the  tribe  of  Levi, 
and   then   by  the   other   tribes,  arranged   in   a   second 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FURNITURE.         309 

cordon,  —  he  must  conclude,  that  as  its  kernel  is  the 
most  valuable  part  of  a  nut,  so  the  words  inscribed  on 
the  tablets  of  testimony  were  more  important  than  the 
successive  shells  and  hulls  by  which  they  were  pro- 
tected and  preserved. 

The  value  thus  attributed  to  the  decalogue  results 
from  its  being  a  testimony  of  God,  revealing  not  merely, 
as  perhaps  we  have  been  accustomed  to  think,  what  he 
wills,  but  what  he  is.  The  "  ten  words  "  inscribed  on 
these  tablets  do,  indeed,  contain  commandments  ;  but 
first  of  all  they  testify  that  God  is  a  deliverer.  The 
inscription  commences,  "  I  am  Jehovah  thy  God,  which 
have  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of 
the  house  of  bondage."  ^  By  its  requirements  and  pro- 
hibitions, the  document  testified  that  Jehovah  was  holy, 
and  required  holiness  of  his  people.  Because  of  this 
witness  which  the  inscription  bore  concerning  Jehovah, 
it  was  called  the  testimony  ;  and  because  its  Author  had 
propounded  it  as  the  basis  of  the  covenant  he  wished  to 
make  with  the  Hebrews,  and  they  had  formally  and 
solemnly  consented  to  receive  it  as  such,  it  was  also 
called  the   covenant?     For    corresponding    reasons    the 

1  Exod.  XX.  2. 

2  There  is  a  prevalent  impression  that  the  old  covenant  was  really  no  covenant 
at  all,  but  an  economy  established  by  the  will  of  one  of  the  parties,  the  other  having 
no  liberty  of  rejecting  it.  An  attentive  reading  of  the  history  will  show,-  however, 
that,  the  covenant  being  first  proposed  in  general  terms,  the  people  responded, 
"All  that  Jehovah  hath  spoken  we  will  do  ;  "  and  that,  the  "  ten  words  "  being 
then  announced  with  the  addition  of  a  code  of  "judgments"  containing  in  a 
condensed  form  nearly  all  the  theocratic  laws  afterward  promulgated,  the  people 
again  responded,  "All  the  words  which  Jehovah  hath  said  will  we  do."  The 
proposed  covenant,  having  been  twice  accepted  by  the  Hebrews,  was  formally 
ratified  with  such  sacrifices,  and  sprinkling  of  blood,  as  usage  required  for  the  rati- 
fication of  a  covenant ;  the  people  protesting  for  the  third  time,  "  All  that  Jehovah 
hath  said  will  we  do,  and  be  obedient."     The  decalogue  is  to  be  regarded,  therefore, 


3IO  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

ark  was  sometimes  termed  the  ark  of  the  testimony,  and 
sometimes  the  ark  of  the  covenant. 

Over  these  tablets  of  testimony  was  the  throne  of 
Jehovah,  where  he  dwelt  between  the  cherubs  which 
stood  one  on  either  end  of  the  cover  of  the  ark.  Above 
this  cover,  or  mercy-seat,  as  it  is  termed  in  the  English 
version,  and  between  these  cherubs,  was  in  particular,  as 
the  tabernacle  was  in  a  more  general  sense,  the  place 
where  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  localized  himself  in  the 
midst  of  the  people  whom  he  had  chosen  that  they 
should  be  holy.  His  throne  was  thus  established  on  the 
testimon)^,  or  covenant,  as  a  foundation.  There  can  be 
little  doubt  that  two  passages  in  the  Book  of  Psalms, 
which  are  more  alike  in  the  original  than  in  the  English 
version,  refer  to  this  position  of  his  throne  over  the 
decalogue.  One  of  them  reads,  "  Justice  and  judgment 
are  the  habitation  [or,  in  the  margin,  establishment]  of 
thy  throne."^  Robinson's  Gesenius  gives  "foundation" 
as  a  more  exact  equivalent  of  the  Hebrew  word  than 
"habitation  "  or  "  establishment."  Employing  this  more 
accurate  definition  in  place  of  "habitation,"  the  other 
passage  reads,  "  Righteousness  and  judgment  are  the 
foundation  of  his  throne."  ^  At  all  events,  the  relative 
position    of  the  mercy-seat,  or  throne  of   grace,  to  the 

not  as  a  law  imposed  upon  the  Hebrews  without  their  consent,  but  as  a  testimony 
for  holiness  which  Jehovah  proposed,  and  they  accepted,  as  the  basis  of  a  mutual 
agreement.  True,  that  all  its  requirements  were  of  natural  and  inevitable  obliga- 
tion ;  but  the  proposition  made  to  the  Hebrews  was,  that  they  should  promise 
obedience,  and  thus  put  themselves  on  a  different  platform  from  the  rest  of  man- 
kind. These  "  ten  words  "  were  a  special  statute  accepted  as  such  by  the  Hebrews, 
enforcing  upon  them  what  was  in  itself  obligatory.  Without  the  covenant,  they 
would  have  been  under  the  same  obligation  as  the  rest  of  mankind :  with  it,  they 
were  bound  by  their  own  promise. 

1  Ps.  Ixxxix.  14.  2  Ps.  xcvii.  2. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FURNITURE.         311 

tablets  bearing  witness  to  the  holiness  of  God,  is  a  sym- 
bolic utterance  of  the  same  truth  which  awakened  once 
and  again  the  enthusiasm  of  the  psalmist.  Over  the 
testimony,  as  the  basis  of  the  covenant,  was  the  place 
where  Jehovah  dwelt  among  his  people  as  their  God  and 
King. 

Here  was  his  throne  between  the  two  cherubs  of  gold, 
and  in  the  midst  of  the  cherubic  figures  wrought  into 
the  tapestry  of  the  tabernacle  itself.  The  cherub  being 
a  symbol  of  redeemed  and  perfected  humanity,  and  the 
holy  of  holies  representing  the  kingdom  of  God  in  its 
perfected  condition,  we  are  constrained  to  look,  for  the 
reality  of  what  is  here  exhibited,  backward  to  the  earthly 
paradise  where  God  and  man  walked  together  in  friendly 
companionship,  or  forward  to  the  restored  paradise  of 
the  New  Jerusalem,  or  upward  to  that  paradise  where 
our  Lord  went  on  the  day  of  his  death.  "  To-day,"  said 
he  to  the  penitent  malefactor,  "  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in 
paradise."  ^  Is  there  not,  then,  even  now  a  place  in  the 
heavens  where  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect  are 
with  God,  seeing  as  they  are  seen,  and  knowing  as  they 
are  known,  walking  by  sight  and  not  by  faith .?  Is  not  this 
the  paradise  which  was  prepared  for  man  on  the  earth, 
but  removed  to  heaven  on  account  of  his  sin  "^  Is  not 
this  the  tabernacle  which  is  to  come  down  from  God  out 
of  heaven,  to  be  established  on  the  earth  as  the  final 
state  of  his  kingdom  here .-' 

The  garden  of  Eden  was  no  sooner  vacated  by  man 
than  it  was  placed  under  the  care  of  cherubs,  to  be  kept 
by  them  till  the  original  heir  should  be  restored  to  his 
inheritance.     A  tableau  of  cherubs  around  the  throne  of 

1  Luke  xxiii.  43. 


312  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

Jehovah  is,  therefore,  a  prediction  and  a  promise  to  men 
of  restoration  to  such  fellowship  with  God  as  Adam 
enjoyed  before  the  earth  ceased  to  be  a  paradise.  It 
authorizes  them  to  expect  that  redemption  will  restore 
not  only  fallen  humanity  to  holiness,  and  fellowship  with 
God,  but  the  material  universe  to  its  pristine  fitness 
for,  and  symbolism  of,  such  a  condition  of  mankind, 
making  it  a  tabernacle  of  God  where  he  will  meet  his 
people.  The  association  of  the  cherubs  with  the  throne 
of  God  implies  that  redeemed  men  are  to  occupy  some 
place  free  from  the  curse  which  rests  upon  the  earth  ; 
and  their  connection  with  Eden,  as  its  keepers,  suggests 
that  the  earth  itself  is  to  be  delivered  from  the  bondage 
of  corruption  into  the  glorious  exemption  from  death  of 
the  children  of  God.  The  presence  of  the  cherubs  on  the 
mercy-seat  bearing  such  significance  is  in  harmony 
with  all  the  other  symbols  of  the  Jioly  of  holies.  Its 
cubical  form,  the  decade  in  its  dimensions,  its  colors  of 
holiness,  heavenliness,  kingliness,  and  life,  its  undecay- 
ing  wood,  and  its  glorious  gold,  unite  in  predicting  that, 
when  the  kingdom  of  God  reaches  its  final  development, 
the  outward  state  and  surroundings  of  the  redeemed  will 
correspond  in  excellence  with  their  high  calling  as  the 
household  of  God. 

But  we  have  yet  to  mention  what  is  perhaps  the  most 
^  important  element  in  the  symboHsm  of  the  cover  of  the 

ark.     It  was  not  only  the  throne  of  the  theocratic  king 
^^''  founded  on  the  testimony  of  the  decalogue  that  he  was 

holy,  and  the  throne  of  the  Living  One  surrounded  by 
creatures  to  whom  he  had  imparted  life  as  nearly  resem- 
bling his  own  as  it  was  possible  that  creatures  should 
possess  ;  but  the  throne  of  grace,  where  assurance  was 
given  to  sinners  that  their  sin  was  taken  away. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FURNITURE.         313 

When  a  sin-offering  had  been  slain,  the  blood  was 
sprinkled  on  the  altar  to  show  that,  by  the  death  of  his 
proxy,  he  who  had  forfeited  his  life  by  sin  was  delivered 
from  the  sentence  of  death,  and  permitted  to  draw  near 
to  God.  This  was  represented  by  the  application  to 
the  altar,  as  the  place  where  God  met  his  people,  of  the 
blood  as  a  symbol  of  life.  Such  a  sprinkling  signified 
that  the  life  of  the  sacrificer  was  covered  with  the  life 
of  the  proxy  slain  in  his  stead,  so  that  he  was  entitled 
to  be  a  living  member  of  the  theocracy.  In  ordinary 
instances  of  the  sin-offering,  this  covering  of  the  soul  of 
the  sacrificer  with  the  soul  of  his  proxy  was  sufficiently 
represented  and  sealed  by  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood 
on  the  altar  of  sacrifice,  that  being  the  place  where 
Jehovah  met  his  people,  and  transacted  with  them 
through  his  representatives  the  priests  ;  but  on  the  day 
of  the  annual  atonement,  or  covering  (for  the  two  words 
are  equivalent),  when  the  sins  of  the  priests  themselves, 
and  of  the  nation  as  such,  were  to  be  cancelled,  the 
blood  was  brought  into  the  ]ioly  of  holies,  and  sprinkled 
upon,  and  in  front  of  the  cappoj^eth,  or  golden  cover  of 
the  ark. 

In  this,  the  most  solemn  of  the  expiatory  representa- 
tions of  the  calendar,  it  was  necessary  to  bring  the  sym- 
bol of  life  even  to  the  holiest  place  of  the  tabernacle  to 
show  that  the  priests  and  the  nation  were  still  alive  unto 
God,  and  permitted  to  draw  near  to  him  in  his  appointed 
ordinances,  each  class  according  to  its  degree.  If  the 
blood  had  been  applied  to  the  altar  in  the  court,  as  was 
sufficient  in  case  of  a  sin-offering  for  an  individual,  the 
question  might  still  rise  whether  the  nation  as  such 
could  draw  near  through  its  mediatorial  officials  into  the 
27 


314  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

habitation,  and  wliether  the  priests  were  so  cleansed 
that  Jehovah  would  permit  them  to  officiate.  But  the 
reception  of  the  symbol  of  the  nation's  life  before  and 
upon  the  throne  of  Jehovah  exhibited  and  sealed  his 
acceptance  of  them  as  justified,  and  entitled  to  live  in 
his  presence. 

The  cappoveth^  or  golden  cover  of  the  ark,  was  there- 
fore not  only  a  source  from  which  Jehovah  issued  assur- 
ances that  sin  was  taken  away,  but  the  very  highest 
possible  source  from  which  such  an  assurance  could 
proceed.  Ordinarily,  it  was  enough  that  the  sinner 
should  be  assured  by  the  application  of  the  symbol  of 
his  life  to  the  altar  in  the  court ;  but,  when  the  most 
solemn  expiation  of  the  year  was  celebrated,  the  ritual 
required  that  the  priest  should  bring  the  blood  to  the 
very  throne  of  the  king.  There  could  be  no  affirmation 
that  sin  was  cancelled  more  satisfactory  in  regard  to  its 
authority  and  its  comprehensiveness  than  this.  It  came 
immediately  from  the  throne  of  the  king,  and  of  necessity 
opened  to  the  restored  nation  every  thing  in  the  tab- 
ernacle to  which  they  could  have  been  admitted  if 
blameless. 

The  literal  meaning  of  capporeth,  the  word  translated 
mercy-seat,  is  cover.  Is  it,  then,  so  called  because  it  v/as 
a  lid  for  the  ark,  or  with  reference  to  the  covering  of 
sin  .-*  The  first-mentioned  reason  occurs  at  once  to 
every  reader,  and  satisfies  him  till  he  finds  how  it  is 
connected  with  what  is  now  called  expiation,  but  was 
conceived  of  by  the  Hebrews  as  the  covering  of  sin. 
Unquestionably  the  expiation,  or  covering  of  sin,  was 
solemnly  declared  and  authoritatively  sealed  by  the 
sprinkling  of  blood  on  the  capporeth,  or  mercy-seat.     In 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  FURNITURE.         315 

view  of  this  fact,  the  translators  of  ancient  versions,  as, 
for  example,  the  Septuagint  and  the  Vulgate,  and  of 
modern  versions,  such  as  those  in  common  use  in  Ger- 
many and  in  English-speaking  countries,  have  rendered 
the  word  by  something  more  specific  than  cover.^  They 
have  taken  into  consideration  that  the  Hebrew  substan- 
tive is  applied  only  to  this  object,  is  therefore  a  proper 
name,  is  cognate  with  the  verb  to  expiate,  or  to  make 
expiation,  and  is  to  be  explained  in  the  light  of  the  pur- 
pose it  subserved.  They  agree  in  calling  it  by  names 
which  imply  that  this  was  the  place  in  the  tabernacle 
which,  above  any  other,  showed  forth  the  acceptance 
of  expiation  for  sin. 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  unite  the  two  senses  in 
which  the  mercy-seat  was  a  cover,  as  if  it  expiated  sin 
by  covering  the  testimony  of  the  decalogue  against  it ; 
but  this  is  not  to  cover  sin  in  the  Hebrew  sense,  which 
was  to  place  over  it  either  the  life  thereby  forfeited  or 
some  authorized  substitute.  When  thus  covered,  it  was 
regarded  as  taken  away,  or  cancelled.  The  proper  name 
capporeth,  or  covering,  is  not,  therefore,  so  far  as  we  can 
discover,  applied  to  the  lid  of  the  ark  because  it  covers 
the  testimony,  but  because  it  was  the  place  from 
which  the  covering  of  sin  was  authoritatively  announced. 

With  this  idea  of  the  mercy-seat,  the  attitude  of  the 
cherubs  well  accords  ;  for  they  stood  with  their  faces 
toward  it,  as  if  what  it  signified  was  especially  attractive, 
wonderful,  and  agreeable.  The  posture  of  these  symbols 
of  redeemed  humanity  expresses  the  gratitude  for  expia- 
tion which  the  vision  of  the  Apocalypse  represents  them 
as  uttering  in  song. 

1  The  Septuagint  has  iTiaarfipcov  km-Qefia,  the  VvlgdAz  ^ofitiatorium,  Luther's 
version  Gnadenstuhl. 


3i6  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

In  the  migrations  of  the  tabernacle,  the  ark,  including 
of  course  the  mercy-seat  and  its  cherubs,  was  enveloped 
first  with  the  partition-veil,  then  with  the  leather,  and 
afterward  with  the  cloth  of  blue  common  to  all  the  uten- 
sils of  the  habitation.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that 
the  blue  cover  of  the  ark  was  laid  over  the  leather ;  and 
not  under,  as  in  the  case  of  the  altar  of  incense,  the 
chandelier,  and  the  table.  The  ark  was  thus  distinguished 
from  the  three  other  utensils  of  the  habitation,  as  the 
four  were  from  the  altar  of  the  court.  All  of  the  four 
were  invested  with  the  chromatic  signature  of  heavenli- 
ness  ;  but  the  ark  alone  wore  it  in  full  view  of  all  spec- 
tators, to  show  that,  as  it  pertained  to  the  kingdom  of 
God  in  its  final  and  complete  state,  it  was  heavenly  in  an 
eminent  degree.  The  partition-veil,  laid  over  the  ark  as 
its  first  covering,  preserved  as  far  as  was  possible  that 
representation  of  its  sacredness  of  which  the  veil  was  the 
instrument  when  suspended  in  its  place.  The  tapestry, 
which  concealed  the  sacred  emblems  from  sight  when  at 
rest,  covered  them  when  carried  in  procession.  They 
were  thus  surrounded  with  the  same  sacred  colors 
and  the  same  cherubic  figures  symbolizing  a  holy  and 
heavenly  kingdom  of  life. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

INTERPRETATION    OF   THE   PRIESTHOOD    OF    THE 
TABERNACLE. 

A  PRIEST  is  one  who  mediates  between  God  and  man. 
He  presents  the  gifts  and  sacrifices  which  the  worshipper 
may  not,  or  dare  not,  offer  in  person,  and  brings  back 
from  God  the  assurance  of  acceptance  and  favor. 
Among  the  Hebrews,  as  among  kindred  nations,  priestly 
functions  were  discharged  by  the  head  of  each  family 
till  the  institution  of  the  covenant  at  Sinai.  This,  by 
consecrating  one  family  as  priests  for  the  nation,  and 
requiring  all  sacrifices  to  be  presented  in  front  of  the 
tabernacle  of  meeting,  put  an  end  to  the  ancient 
practice. 

In  the  narrative  of  the  ratification  of  the  covenant, 
the  family  priests  are  mentioned  for  the  last  time. 
They  had  no  active  part,  however,  in  the  sacrifices; 
which  were  conducted  by  Moses  as  the  mediator  of  the 
covenant,  and  young  men  whom  he  chose  as  his 
assistants,  perhaps  on  purpose  to  show  that  the  old 
regime  had  passed  away.  As  the  mediator  of  the  cove- 
nant divinely  authorized  to  communicate  to  the  people 
the  messages  of  their  God,  and  to  God  the  messages  of 
his  people,  Moses  would   be   the   first   person   thought 

of   for  the  priesthood.      But,  his  hands  being  already 
27*  317 


3i8  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

sufficiently  occupied,  the  office  was  conferred  on  his 
brother,  as  the  person  nearest  to  him  in  consanguinity, 
and  harmony  of  feeling.  As  before  in  the  several 
households,  so  in  the  nation,  the  office  was  hereditary. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  such  a  change  in  the  tenure  of 
the  priesthood  would  help  to  consolidate  the  families 
which  before  had  worshipped  at  separate  altars.  The 
union  of  all  Hebrews,  of  whatever  parentage,  in  the 
worship  of  the  tabernacle,  was  an  important  element  of 
national  life.  The  families  were  henceforth,  at  least  so 
far  as  concerns  the  rites  of  religion,  united  together  as  a 
nation;  and  the  family  of  Aaron  were,  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  Jehovah,  mediators  between  the  nation  and 
himself. 

The  nation  thus  constituted  not  only  belonging  to 
Jehovah  as  other  nations  did,  but  being  eminently  his  by 
virtue  of  their  election  as  his  covenant  people,  the 
family  of  Aaron  were  elected  to  a  corresponding 
eminence  above  their  kindred  ;  not  only  belonging  to 
Jehovah  as  all  Hebrews  did,  but  being  in  a  peculiar 
sense  his  for  the  service  of  mediation.  As  the  entire 
nation  were  holy,  or  separate  from  other  nations,  so  this 
family  were  called  to  be  holy,  or  were  separated  from 
other  Hebrews  for  the  office  and  ministrations  of  the 
priesthood.  As  this  separation  of  the  Hebrews  from 
the  rest  of  mankind,  and  this  privilege  of  being  in  a 
peculiar  sense  the  property  or  inheritance  of  Jehovah, 
did  not  begin  with  any  act  of  their  own,  but  they  were 
chosen  to  be  his  and  to  be  holy  ;  so  Aaron  and  his  sons 
did  not  take  the  prerogatives  of  the  priesthood  sponta- 
neously, but  were  called  to  the  office  by  the  election  of 
Jehovah  himself. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRIESTHOOD.        319 

The  Hebrew  priesthood  was  instituted  because  the 
people  were  not  quaHfied  to  draw  near  to  God  in  person. 
By  virtue  of  their  election,  the  people  of  Jehovah  were 
entitled  to  dwell  in  his  habitation,  but  their  con- 
sciousness of  sin  made  them  afraid  of  him  :  therefore,  in 
condescension  to  their  inability  to  understand  the 
greatness  of  his  love,  he  provided  a  class  of  persons 
who,  as  the  representatives  of  his  elect,  might  in  their 
stead  enter  the  tabernacle.  To  draw  near  to  God,  and 
to  be  a  priest,  are  equivalent  expressions.  Aaron  drew 
near  in  behalf  of  those  who  were  elected  to  have 
spiritual  communion  with  God,  but  were  not  yet  deliv- 
ered from  bondage  to  fear ;  and  his  admission  within  the 
habitation  signified  that  they  were  entitled  to  a  corre- 
sponding access  in  spirit,  that  they  were  called  a 
kingdom  of  priests  for  the  reason  that  they  might  thus 
draw  near  to  God  in  spiritual  fellowship.  By  his  office 
he  was  qualified  to  do  outwardly  and  symbolically  what 
all  might  do  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  But,  before  Aaron 
could  enter  the  holy  habitation  in  behalf  of  the  people, 
he  must  officiate  at  the  altar  of  sacrifice,  and  expiate  sin  ; 
for  his  constituents  were  sinful,  and  the  representation 
of  their  approach  to  God  as  members  of  his  household 
must  be  preceded  by  signs  that  i;their  sin  was  taken 
away  :  otherwise  it  might  be  inferred  that  Jehovah  was 
indifferent  whether  his  people  were  holy  or  unholy. 

The  Hebrew  priesthood  therefore  symbolized  in 
general  the  expiation  of  sin,  and  the  admission  to  filial 
intercourse  with  God  effected  thereby.  Accepting  this 
as  the  correct  interpretation  of  the  symbol  in  its  entire- 
ness,  we  proceed  to  consider  separately  the  several  parts 
of  which  the  representation  consisted.     The  particulars 


320  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

to  be  interpreted  are,  election  to  the  office,  the  compara- 
tive hoUness  of  the  incumbents,  the  requirements  of 
bodily  soundness,  the  official  garments,  and  the  conse- 
cration. 

It  is  not  only  historically  true  that  Aaron  and  his 
descendants  were  priests  by  the  election  of  Jehovah 
declared  through  Moses  the  mediator  of  the  covenant, 
and  confirmed  by  the  sign  of  the  almond-rod,  but  such  a 
calling  of  God  is  essential  to  the  idea  of  the  office ;  for 
a  priest  is  one  who  comes  near  to. God,  dwells  with  him 
in  his  house  as  a  companion  in  behalf  of  others  because 
more  acceptable  than  they.  The  priest  is  preferred 
before  those  whom  he  represents  :  therefore  no  man  may 
take  this  honor  to  himself,  or  be  exalted  to  it  by  his 
fellows.  "  Blessed  is  the  man,"  says  the  psalmist,  "  whom 
thou  choosest,  and  causest  to  approach  unto  thee,  that  he 
may  dwell  in  thy  courts  :  we  shall  be  satisfied  with  the 
goodness  of  thy  house,  even  of  thy  holy  temple."  ^  Only 
those  thus  chosen  by  God  were  priests. 

This  divine  election  of  the  family  of  Aaron  out  of 
Israel  signifies  that  those  who  have  been  admitted  to 
filial  fellowship  with  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  were  called 
thereto  by  the  sovereign  choice  of  God.  As  Jehovah 
chose  the  family  of  Aaron  out  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  the 
Levites  out  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  and  the  He- 
brews out  of  all  the  nations,  so  he  has  chosen  his  spiritual 
seed  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and 
nation.  Without  such  election  they  would  have  remained 
like  the  rest  of  mankind,  strangers  to  the  covenant, 
instead  of  becoming  "  a  holy  priesthood  to  offer  up  spirit- 

1  Ps.  Ixv.  4. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRIESTHOOD.        321 

ual  sacrifices."  ^  The  New-Testament  writers  make 
this  divine  election  very  prominent,  declaring  that  those 
who  by  receiving  Christ  become  sons  of  God,  were  born 
not  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God,^  were  called  to  be 
saints,  ^  were  chosen  before  the  foundation  of  the  world 
that  they  should  be  holy,*  were  predestinated  to  the 
adoption  of  children,^  were  elect  unto  obedience  and 
sprinkling  of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  ^ 

The  priesthood  were  elected  to  holiness.  The  whole 
people,  as  a  kingdom  of  priests,  were  to  be  a  holy  nation  ; 
but  the  family  of  Aaron  were  chosen  to  a  still  higher 
ceremonial  purity  than  was  required  of  their  brethren. 
When  Korah  and  his  companions  claimed  the  right  to 
officiate  as  priests,  they  did  so  on  the  ground  that  all  the 
congregation  were  holy ;  and  the  reply  to  the  mutineers 
was,  "  To-morrow  Jehovah  will  show  who  are  his,  and 
who  is  holy ;  and  will  cause  him  to  come  near  unto  him  : 
even  him  whom  he  hath  chosen  will  he  cause  to  come 
near  unto  him."  '^  The  budding  of  Aaron's  rod  decided 
the  question  between  him  and  those  who  claimed  the 
office  on  the  ground  that  all  were  hoty.  It  was  a  sign 
that  Aaron  was  elected  to  a  superiority  of  holiness 
among  the  Hebrews,  as  the  nation  was  to  a  similar 
eminence  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

The  same  thing  is  evident  from  the  legal  ordinances 
concerning  the  priesthood.  Many  things  allowed  by  the 
law  of  nature  were  by  the  law  of  Moses  forbidden  to  a 
Hebrew.     Beasts,  birds,  and  fishes  being  classified  into 

1  I  Pet.  ii.  5.  2  John  i.  13.  8  Rom.  i.  7. 

4  Eph.  i,  4.  5  Eph.  i.  5.  61  Pet.  i.  2, 

T  Num.  xvi.  5. 


322  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

clean  and  unclean,  one  who  belonged  to  the  holy  nation 
might  not  eat  of  any  thing  pronounced  unclean,  however 
much  esteemed  as  an  article  of  diet  by  Gentiles,  on 
penalty  of  becoming  unholy  in  his  own  person,  and  unfit 
for  his  usual  participation  in  the  symbolic  transactions 
of  the  tabernacle.  Dead  bodies  and  diseased  persons 
were  pronounced  by  the  law,  unclean ;  and  any  Hebrew 
who  touched  a  dead  body,  or  came  in  contact  with  a 
person  suffering  with  certain  diseases,  became  also 
unclean,  and  incompetent  to  appear  in  the  court  of  the 
tabernacle.  But  a  priest  was  not  only  bound  by  all  ordi- 
nances which  separated  the  Hebrews  as  a  holy  nation 
from  the  rest  of  mankind,  but  by  requirements  and 
prohibitions  peculiar  to  his  class.  It  was  lawful  for  a 
layman  to  become  defiled  by  touching  the  dead,  provided 
he  was  afterward  duly  cleansed  ;  but  a  priest  was  forbid- 
den to  do  it,  except  when  his  father  or  mother,  son  or 
daughter,  brother  or  virgin  sister,  had  died.  With  this 
exception,  he  might  not  incur  defilement  even  for  neces- 
sary offices  connected  with  the  burial  of  the  dead.  In 
contracting  marriage,  a  priest  must  not  become  one  flesh 
with  a  dissolute  or  a  divorced  woman,  but  marry  either  a 
virgin,  or  a  widow  of  good  character.  The  high-priest 
must  be  even  more  strict  than  the  common  priest,  both 
in  respect  to  mourning  and  wedding.  He  might  not 
defile  himself  for  the  dead,  even  when  his  nearest  kins- 
man died ;  but  must  leave  to  others  the  rites  of  mourn- 
ing and  sepulture,  discharging  the  duties  of  his  office  as 
at  other  times,  without  even  rending  his  clothes,  or 
uncovering  his  head.  He  must  marry  only  a  virgin  of 
Hebrew  origin  ;  not  being  allowed,  as  other  priests  were, 
to  take  a  widow  or  a  proselyte. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRIESTHOOD.        323 

Now,  this  outward  separation  from  common  things 
symboHzed  a  corresponding  separation  from  what  is 
common  and  unclean  in  the  field  of  ethics  ;  and  the 
representation  was  more  impressive  because  repeated  in 
the  different  classes  called  to  this  outward  holiness,  and 
because  greater  and  greater  strictness  was  required  of 
the  several  successive  classes  as  they  were  appointed  to 
a  nearer  and  nearer  approach  to  Jehovah  in  his  taber- 
nacle. The  election  of  the  Hebrews  to  be  a  holy  nation 
set  forth  before  the  eyes  of  men  the  truth  that  Jehovah 
is  holy,  and  that  the  true  Israel  who  in  spirit  and  in 
truth  have  access  to  him  must  be  holy  :  the  calling  of 
the  priests  to  a  greater  strictness  of  life  than  was 
required  of  the  common  people,  and  the  requirement  of 
a  still  higher  degree  of  holiness  in  the  head  of  the 
sacerdotal  order,  were  concurrent  and  cumulative 
testimonies  to  the  same  truth. 

Closely  connected  in  significance  with  the  ascetic 
abstinence  from  things  permitted  to  other  Hebrews, 
which  the  law  demanded  of  the  family  of  Aaron,  was 
the  requirement  of  bodily  soundness  in  those  who 
performed  the.  most  sacred  functions  of  the  priesthood.^ 
All  male  descendants  of  Aaron  belonged  to  the  order 
by  right  of  birth  ;  but,  if  one  had  any  corporal  defect,  he 
could  not  draw  near  to  Jehovah  as  an  officiating  priest. 
He  was  entitled  to  maintenance  the  same  as  if  physi- 
cally whole,  and  might  be  employed  in  some  subsidiary 
duties ;  ^  he  might  eat  the  bread  of  his  God  as  the  other 
priests  did,  but  not  offer  it ;  he  could  not  go  in  unto  the 
veil,  nor  come  nigh  unto  the  altar. 

1  Lev.  skL  16-24.  2  See  note  on  p.  64. 


324  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

The  reason  of  this  requirement  is  not  in  the  necessity 
of  excluding  from  the  worship  bodily  deformities  as 
objects  disagreeable  to  the  eye;  for  some  of  the' defects 
mentioned  in  the  law  would  be  concealed  by  the  dress, 
and  might  remain  unknown  to  any  mortal  but  the  unfor- 
tunate man  himself.  It  is  worth  while  to  notice  in  this 
connection  the  similar  requirement  of  heathen  religions 
that  their  priests  should  be  free  from  blemish.^  The 
Greeks  even  went  so  far  sometimes  as  to  select  the  most 
beautiful  men  for  the  sacerdotal  ofBce.^  Their  religion 
set  before  them  cosmical  perfection  as  the  object  of 
highest  admiration,  as  Mosaism,  in  like  manner  proposed 
the  ethical  perfection  of  Jehovah  for  the  admiration  of 
the  Hebrews.  Physical  faultlessness  in  the  Hebrew 
priest  was  symbolic,  as  it  was  in  those  who  ministered 
at  the  altars  of  Zeus,  but  intended  to  convey  a  different 
suggestion.  Its  symbolism  was  in  accordance  with  the 
spirit  and  doctrine  of  Mosaism,  as  the  similar  require- 
ment in  heathenism  was  with  the  system  it  aided  to 
represent.  The  soundness  of  physique  which  the  Mo- 
saic law  required  in  one  who  drew  near  to  the  covenant 
God  in  his  holy  habitation,  signified  that  Jehovah  had  no 
ethical  blemish.  It  thus  coincided  in  its  testimony  with 
the  requirement  of  an  ascetic  separation  from  common 
life. 

In  almost  every  modern  nation  there  are  some  rem- 
nants of  the  ancient  custom  of  representing  office  by 
garments  of  peculiar  material,  shape,  and  color.  History 
registers  the  decline  of  the  custom,  but  not  its  birth  and 

1  Fiske:  Manual  of  Classical  Literature,  p.  162.  _ 

2  Creuzer :  Symbolik,  iv.  645.  9 


Fig.  31. 
SU I  ORDINATE   PRIEST    IN  COSTUME. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRIESTHOOD.        325 

growth  ;  for  it  was  as  powerful  as  ever  in  the  earliest 
age  which  has  transmitted  to  us  its  records.  In  the 
time  of  Moses,  both  kings  and  priests  in  every  country- 
were  clothed  in  a  garb  not  only  distinctive,  but  emblem- 
atic. The  king  wore,  it  may  be,  a  crown,  and  the  priest 
a  mitre  ;  the  former  was  invested  perhaps  in  purple,  and 
the  latter  in  shining  white.  The  two  offices,  if  not 
united  in  the  same  person,  were  distinguished  by  differ- 
ent official  garments.  The  dress  in  which  the  priest 
offered  sacrifice  was  not  the  same  as  the  royal  apparel  of 
the  king,  but  the  vestments  of  each  were  intended  to 
represent  the  peculiarities  of  his  office.  This  being 
true  of  regal  and  sacerdotal  attire  throughout  the  ancient 
world,  we  infer  that  the  holy  garments  which  Moses  was 
directed  to  make  for  Aaron  and  his  sons  were  not  only 
distinctive,  but  symbolic.  They  were  both  badges  and 
emblems,  distinguishing  the  wearer  as  an  official,  and 
showing  the  nature  of  his  office. 

In  interpreting  the  significance  conveyed  by  the  gar- 
ments of  the  Levitical  priesthood,  it  will  be  convenient 
to  treat  first  of  the  four  pieces  worn  by  priests  of  ordi- 
nary rank,  and  afterward  of  those  peculiar  to  their 
chief. 

Is  there,  then,  no  significance  in  the  fact  that  this 
official  costume  consisted  of  four  pieces  .■'  We  might 
think  so  if  tTiis  were  the  only  instance  in  which  the 
number  occurred  in  the  symbols  of  the  tabernacle.  But 
as  four  limits  the  colors  of  the  tapestry,  the  ingredients 
of  the  incense,  the  spices  of  the  holy  anointing  oil, 
the  composite  parts  of  the  cherubs,  we  conclude  that  the 
same  signature  of  the  kingdom  of  God  was  designedly 
impressed  on  the  official  costume  of  those  who  were 
28 


326  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

elected  to  draw  near  to  Jehovah.  This  judgment  is  con- 
firmed by  the  recurrence  of  four  as  the  number  of 
pieces  additional  to  the  dress  of  the  ordinary  priests 
which  the  head  of  the  order  was  required  to  wear  in  the 
performance  of  official  duty.  The  costume  common  to 
all  members  of  the  order  included  drawers,  tunic,  girdle, 
and  bonnet ;  the  high-priest  was  required  to  wear  in 
addition  the  robe  of  the  ephod,  the  ephod,  the  breast- 
plate, and  the  crown  or  plate  of  gold  on  his  cap,  the  cap 
itself  differing  in  shape  from  those  of  his  subordinates. 
Adherence  to  these  appointments  of  the  law  was 
esteemed  so  important  in  the  ritualistic  period  of  the 
Jewish  church,  that  the  Talmud  repeats  to  the  six-hun- 
dredth time,  "The  garments  of  the  high-priest  are 
eight,"  ^  often  mentions  four  as  the  number  belonging 
to  a  priest  of  ordinary  rank,  maintains  that  any  sacer- 
dotal act  would  be  invalid  if  the  person  officiating 
wore  a  greater  or  less  number  of  garments  than  was 
appointed,  and  pronounces  how  large  a  bandage  a  priest 
might  wear  on  a  wounded  finger  without  infringing  the 
law.  These  traditions,  however  worthless  in  other 
respects,  prove  that,  while  the  ordinary  sacerdotal  cos- 
tume consisted  of  four  separate  pieces,  the  high-priest 
was  required  to  wear  four  others  in  addition.  The 
numerical  signature  of  the  tabernacle  was  thus  im- 
pressed on  the  official  garments  of  its  priesthood. 

The  garments  of  the  priests  of  ordinary  rank  were 
all  of  pure  white  except  the  girdle.  The  drawers,  the 
coat,  and  the  bonnet,  were  of  shesh,  bleached,  but  not 
dyed.  White  raiment  was,  as  we  have  seen,  emblematic 
of    ethical  purity.     It  was   "  the    righteousness   of    the 

1  Braun  :  Vestitus  Sacerdotum  Hebraeorum,  Liber  I.  p.  25. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRIESTHOOD.       327 

saints."  As  worn  by  the  priest,  it  signified  that  those  who 
were  admitted  to  intimacy  with  the  Holy  One  of  Israel 
must  be  pure  in  heart  and  life.  Several  passages  are  to 
be  found  in  the  Apocalypse  in  which  those  who  have  been 
redeemed  with  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  received  to 
the  immediate  presence  of  God,  are  described  as 
apparelled  in  white.  In  one  of  the  visions,  John  sees  a 
great  multitude  which  no  man  could  number  standing 
before  the  throne  and  before  the  Lamb,  clothed  in  white 
robes,  and  is  informed  that  these  have  made  their  robes 
white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  for  this  reason  are 
before  the  throne  of  God,  and  serve  him  day  and  night 
in  his  temple.  His  informant  adds  still  further,  "  He 
that  sitteth  on  the  throne  shall  dwell  among  them."  In 
this  symbolic  description  of  the  blessedness  of  those  who 
are  purified  from  sin  through  the  blood  of  Christ,  it  is 
easy  to  recognise  the  symbols  of  Mosaism.  These  people 
among  whom  God  dwells,  and  by  whom  he  is  served  in 
his  temple,  correspond  to  the  Hebrew  priests.  In  both 
cases  the  white  color  of  their  apparel  is  a  symbol  of 
holiness. 

The  material  also  contributed  something  to  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  dress.  The  garments  must  all  be  of  linen  ; 
and  in  the  vision  of  Ezekiel  the  directions  given  for 
the  official  raiment  of  the  priests  add  to  the  requirement 
of  linen  the  express  prohibition  of  any  thing  woollen. 
The  reason  of  the  requirement  lies,  doubtless,  in  the 
greater  cleanliness  possible  in  a  warm  climate  to  one 
whose  garments  are  exclusively  of  this  material.  Indeed- 
the  passage  in  Ezekiel  referred  to  above,  mentions  the 
avoidance  of  sweat  as  the  end  to  be  secured  by  wearing 
linen  instead  of  woollen.     The  material  was  suggestive 


328  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

first  of  outward,  and  therefore,  secondarily,  of  inward 
purity,     g 

Not  only  was  the  costume  of  a  priest  significant  in  its 
material,  its  color,  and  the  number  of  its  pieces,  but 
each  of  the  four  garments  of  which  it  was  composed 
contributed  an  element  peculiar  to  itself. 

The  coat,  or  tunic,  was  first  in  importance,  as  it  was  in 
size.  Reaching  from  the  neck  to  the  ankles,  it  was 
nearly  coincident,  as  a  covering  of  the  person,  with  the 
whole  costume ;  so  that  the  other  three  garments  were 
supplements  to  this,  rather  than  its  equals.  Its  import, 
as  might  be  expected,  is  also  nearly  the  same  as  that  of 
the  whole  dress.  As  the  entire  costume  of  four  pieces, 
by  means  of  its  material  and  its  dominant  color,  was  sug- 
gestive of  holiness,  so  was  the  coat  in  particular,  as  it 
invested  the  person  from  the  neck  to  the  ankles  with 
linen  white  and  shining  as  light.  Moreover,  this  gar- 
ment was  woven  in  one  piece  to  represent,  by  this  sort 
of  integrity,  moral  wholeness  or  holiness.  To  rend  his 
garment  was  a  sign  that  one  was  inwardly  torn  ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  coat  which  was  whole  was  symbolic 
of  inward  wholeness.  Such  a  garment  was  a  token  that 
the  heart  of  the  wearer  was  not  rent  with  violent  passion. 
This  symbolism  was  carried  so  far  as  to  exclude  the  art 
of  the  tailor  at  least  from  new  garments.^  The  Hebrew 
employed  an  artist  not  to  cut  cloth  into  pieces  to  be 
sewed  together,  but  to  weave  a'  coat  without  seam ;  and 

1  The  Greeks  applied  to  a  tailor  the  same  word,  ukecttiq,  as  to  a  physician, 
uKECTyp,  from  uKEO/iai,  to  heal,  merely  changing  the  termination  ;  as  if  the  art  com- 
menced with  healing  or  making  whole  old  garments.  The  Latin  word  for  tailor, 
sartor,  is  also  from  a  verb,  sarcire,  signifying  to  mend.  See  Liddell  and  Scott's 
Greek  Lex.,  and  Andrews'  Latin  Lex. ;  also  Braun,  Vestitus  Sac.  Ileb.  Liber  L 
p.  258. 


ft:^.  i_  t— 


pitaiiir 


IfflpnTipn-ir;,','  J-Y 
i>.^  nfiiiTiniiirmVn 

innin  i  mnnm''"! 
fell!]  \m^  li:?:-'vi"\X^^- 

"ipiaiinrcr 
.jaPSFiHiiir 
ppMimir 
^naasir 

Innaiiisi 


J,TP'* 


Fig.  32. 
SACERDOTAL   TUNIC. 


Ji^ I. 


Fig.  33. 
LOOM    FOR  WEAVING   SEAMLESS   TUNICS. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRIESTHOOD.        329 

the  symbolic  significance  of  rending  it  resulted  from  this 
peculiarity.  Tunics  without  seam  were  exclusively  used 
in  the  early  centuries  of  Hebrew  history,  and  had  not 
disappeared  at  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era, 
since  our  Lord  himself  wore  such  a  garment.^  Braun 
records  that  he  had  in  his  possession  two  tunics  of  this 
kind,  and  had  seen  several  others,  all  brought  in  his  day 
from  the  East  Indies.^  The  passion  most  frequently 
symbolized  by  rending  the  garments  was  grief  occasioned 
either  by  calamity  or  sin ;  but  heart-rending  grief  in  one 
who  had  been  set  apart  from  common  life  to  the  service 
of  God  was  incongruous  with  his  holy  calling.  Hence 
the  high-priest  was  expressly  forbidden  to  rend  his 
clothes  on  account  of  any  bereavement ;  and  such  a 
demonstration  of  mourning  was  allowed  to  an  ordinary 
priest  only  when  he  had  been  bereaved  of  his  nearest 
kinsmen.  Such  legislation  indicates  how  important  it 
might  be,  among  a  people  conversant  with  symbolism  of 
this  kind,  that  the  principal  official  garment  of  the 
sacerdotal  order  should  be  without  rent  or  seam. 

The  tunic  of  the  priest  was  not  only  without  seam, 
but  so  woven  as  to  exhibit  checks  like  the  pattern  called 
damask ;  for  such  is  the  meaning  of  the  descriptive 
adjective  which  the  English  translators  incorrectly 
regarded  as  equivalent  to  bividered.  The  coat  was 
therefore  covered  throughout  with  four-sided  figures  of 
small  size.  Bahr  thinks  that  these  were  symbols  of  like 
import  with  the  precious  stones  in  the  breastplate    of 

1  John  xix.  23. 

2  Braun:  Vestitus  Sac.  Heb.  Liber  I.  p.  278.  He  had  before  taken  the  trouble 
to  have  a  loom  constructed,  and  a  seamless  tunic  woven,  to  demonstrate  the  possi- 
bihty  of  producing  such  a  garment  by  the  art  of  the  weaver.  His  loom,  and  the 
tunic  woven  in  it,  are  shown  in  figures,  33  and  34. 

28* 


330  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

the  high-priest ;  as  if  every  member  of  the  sacerdotal 
family  bore  on  his  person  visible  signs  that  as  a  priest 
he  was  the  representative  of  the  tribes  of  Israel,  these 
symbols  designedly  having,  in  the  case  of  the  subordinate 
priests,  only  a  ^reflection  of  the  glory  and  beauty  of  those 
which  distinguished  the  head  of  the  order.  If  there 
had  been  just  twelve  of  these  quadrangular  figures  in 
the  sacerdotal  tunic,  we  might  have  had  reason  to  believe 
that  they  were  a  symbol  of  like  import  with  the  jewels 
of  the  breastplate,  whose  arrangements  in  checks  is 
indicated  in  the  original  by  the  same  word ;  but  the 
absence  of  the  number  twelve  leaves  the  matter  involved 
in  uncertainty.  Whatever  this  pattern  may  signify,  it  is 
found  on  the  tunics  of  Assyrian  kings.  The  study  of 
Assyriology  may  therefore  yet  reveal  its  import.^ 

1  In  connection  with  the  figure  of  the  Assyrian  king  (fig.  33),  showing  ih.e.iashbehiz 
or  checkered  pattern  of  his  tunic,  tlie  following  passage  from  Layard  (Nineveh  and 
its  Remains,  vol.  ii.  p.  140)  is  worthy  of  attention  for  its  bearing  on  the  whole  subject 
under  discussion,  as  well  as  for  its  mention  of  the  embroideries  on  the  robes  of  the 
king.  "  The  intimate  connection  between  the  public  and  private  life  of  the 
Assyrians  and  their  religion  is  abundantly  proved  by  the  sculptures  described  in 
the  previous  pages.  As  amongst  most  Eastern  nations,  not  only  all  public  and 
social  duties,  but  even  the  commonest  forms  and  customs,  appear  to  have  been  more 
or  less  influenced  by  religion,  or  to  have  been  looked  upon  as  typical.  The  resi- 
dence of  the  king,  as  I  have  observed,  was  probably  at  the  same  time  the  temple ; 
and  that  he  himself  was  either  supposed  to  be  invested  with  divine  attributes,  or  was 
looked  upon  as  a  type  of  the  supreme  Deity,  is  shown  by  the  sculptures.  The 
winged  figures,  even  that  with  the  head  of  the  eagle,  minister  to  him.  All  his  acts, 
whether  in  war  or  peace,  appear  to  have  been  connected  with  the  national  religion, 
and  were  believed  to  be  under  the  special  protection  and  superintendence  of  the 
Deity.  When  he  is  represented  in  battle,  the  winged  figure  in  the  circle  hovers 
above  his  head,  bends  the  bow  against  his  enemies,  or  assumes  his  attitude  of 
triumph.  His  contests  with  the  lion  and  other  formidable  animals  not  only  show 
his  power  and  skill,  but  typify  at  the  same  time  his  superior  strength  and  wisdom. 
Whether  he  has  overcome  his  enemies,  or  the  wild  beasts,  he  poiurs  out  a  libation 
from  the  sacred  cup,  attended  by  his  courtiers  and  by  the  winged  figures.  The 
embroideries  tipon  his  robes,  and  upon  those  of  his  attendants,  have  all  mythic 
meaning." 


iiiiiiiiip^ 


Fig.  34. 

TUNIC  Wn  flOUT  SEAM,  WOVEN  IN  THE  SIXTEENTH 

CENTURY. 


Fk;.  35. 
ASSYRIAN   KING. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRIESTHOOD.       331 

A  girdle  of  some  kind  was  in  ancient  time,  as  it  is 
even  now,  essential  to  the  completeness  of  an  Oriental 
costume.  The  tunic  of  a  laborer  was  confined  with  a 
plain  band  of  leather,  such  as  John  the  Baptist  was  girt 
with ;  but  the  girdle  was  sometimes  of  costly  material, 
and  ornamented  with  works  of  art  indicative  of  wonderful 
skill  and  patience.  This  part  of  the  ancient  costume  by 
means  of  diversity  in  its  material,  size,  shape,  and 
ornamentation,  was  easily  made  a  badge  of  office.  The 
girdle  of  the  soldier,  sustaining  the  weight  of  weapons, 
was  not  of  the  same  fashion  as  the  emblematic  sash 
with  which  the  minister  of  religion  girt  himself  for  the 
rites  of  worship.  The  priests  of  Egypt  were  distin- 
guished among  themselves  by  girdles  of  diverse  patterns, 
indicating,  perhaps,  that  they  belonged  to  different  deitie^ 
or  were  of  unequal  rank.  The  girdle  of  the  Hebrew 
priest  seems  to  have  been,  more  than  any  other  article  of 
his  attire,  an  official  badge.  According  to  the  traditional 
law  of  the  Hebrews,  the  priest  must  remove  his  girdle 
when  he  ceased  to  officiate,  but  might,  if  more  conven- 
ient, continue  to  wear  the  other  official  garments  through 
the  day.!^  How  the  girdle  of  the  priest  symbolized  his 
office  as  an  attache  of  the  tabernacle,  is  evident  when  we 
consider  its  peculiar  ornamentation.  Like  the  other 
garments,  it  was  of  white  linen ;  but,  unlike  them,  it  was 
interwoven  with  threads  of  blue,  purple,  and  crimson. 
The  four  colors  of  the  tabernacle  signified  that  the 
wearer  belonged  to  the  institution.  This  badge  of  office 
certified  that  he  had  a  right  to  enter  the  habitation 
where  these  significant  colors  were  dominant. 

The  Arab  wears  on  his  head  a  cap  similar  to  the 

1  Braim:  Ves.  Sac.  Heb.,  Liber  II.  pp.  385,  401,  674. 


332  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

Turkish  fez,  which  he  calls  a  tarbuslu  The  Bedouin 
spreads  over  it  a  handkerchief  folded  so  that  three  of 
the  four  corners  hang  down  on  the  back  and  shoul- 
ders, and  binds  it  in  place  with  a  twisted  rope  of  goat's 
hair  or  camel's  hair  reaching  around  his  head.  The 
Syrian  Arab,  if  he  wishes  any  addition  to  his  tarbush, 
ties  a  handkerchief  over  it,  or  winds  around  it  a  shawl  of 
wool,  silk,  or  cotton,  so  as  to  form  a  turban.  The  Orien- 
tal turban  has  exhibited  both  in  modern  time,  and  in  the 
remotest  antiquity,  a  great  variety  of  form,  material,  and 
color.  By  means  of  this  diversity  it  has  served  to  dis- 
tinguish between  men  of  different  nations,  and  of  differ- 
ent classes  in  the  same  nation.  The  difference  between 
the  head-dress  of  the  Hebrew  high-priest,  and  those 
appointed  for  his  subordinates,  was  doubtless  designed  to 
express  a  difference  of  rank,  while  both  patterns  were 
badges  of  honor.  The  specifications  given  to  Moses 
direct  him  to  make  the  bonnets  of  the  subordinate 
priests  for  glory  and  for  beauty  in  the  same  terms  in 
which  he  is  required  to  make  the  whole  costume  for 
glory  and  for  beauty.  The  repetition  of  this  clause  in 
reference  to  the  bonnets,  and  only  in  reference  to  them, 
implies  that  they  especially  were  designed  for  ornament 
and  honor.  As  an  ancient  Assyrian  king  was  distin- 
guished by  a  head-dress  of  peculiar  shape  and  ornamen- 
tation, as  a  descendant  of  Mohammed  is  known  by  the 
color  of  his  turban,  so  the  dignity  of  the  Hebrew  priest, 
as  an  attendant  on  Jehovah  in  his  holy  habitation,  was 
symbolized  by  a  turban  peculiar  to  his  order  in  its 
material,  its  color,  and  perhaps  its  shape. 

The  priests  must  wear  drawers  while  officiating,  to 
cover  their  nakedness  ;  and  neglect  to  do  so  was  to  be 


Fig.  36. 
HINDOSTANEE  TURBANS,  INDICATING  THE  RANK  OF  THE 

WEARERS. 


\ 


Fig.  37. 
ROBE  OF  THE  EPHOD. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRIESTHOOD.       2)11 

punished  with  death,  even  if  no  exposure  of  the  person 
resulted.  The  covering  was  therefore  symbohc.  It  was 
a  removal  from  the  significant  tableau  in  which  the 
priest  was  engaged,  of  those  parts  of  his  person  which, 
as  excretory,  were  especially  representative  of  defile- 
ment. 

The  significance  of  the  costume  of  the  Hebrew  priest 
cannot  be  fully  seen  by  one  who  overlooks  the  fact  that 
it  left  his  feet  uncovered.  An  Oriental  does  not  wear  a 
shoe  or  sandal  for  protection  from  cold,  but  from  filth ; 
and  lays  aside  at  least  the  outermost  covering  of  his  feet 
when  he  enters  a  house  because  he  will  not  need  such 
protection  in  such  a  place,  and  because  his  shoe  might 
bring  filth  into  the  house.  This  etiquette  is  rigidly 
obser\^ed  in  Mohammedan  countries  in  regard  to 
mosques,  which  it  would  be  sacrilegious  to  enter  without 
removing  the  shoes.  We  are  to  understand,  therefore, 
that  the  Hebrew  priests  were  required  to  be  barefooted 
when  they  were  in  the  tabernacle,  because  any  covering 
of  the  feet  would  have  suggested  that  one  might  have 
brought  in  defilement  from  without,  or  was  liable  to 
acquire  it  while  occupied  in  the  holy  place. 

The  costume  of  the  high-priest  consisted  of  the  four 
pieces  worn  by  his  subordinates,  and  of  four  others  pecu- 
liar to  him  as  the  head  of  the  order. 

Over  the  tunic  he  wore  the  robe  of  the  ephod,  the 
significance  of  which  resulted  from  its  blue  color  and 
the  ornamental  fringe  which  hung  from  its  border  at  the 
bottom.  To  understand  the  meaning  of  this  fringe,  let 
us  look  at  an  ordinance  which  required  every  Hebrew  to 
wear  a  fringe,  and  the  reason  assigned  for  such  a  law. 
"  Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  and  bid  them  that 


334  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

they  make  them  fringes  in  the  borders  of  their  garments 
throughout  their  generations,  and  that  they  put  upon 
the  fringe  of  the  borders  a  ribbon  of  bhie :  and  it  shall 
be  unto  you  for  a  fringe,  that  ye  may  look  upon  it,  and 
remember  all  the  commandments  of  Jehovah,  and  do 
them."  ^  The  ornaments  were  intended  to  remind  the 
wearer  of  the  commandments  of  Jehovah,  and  were  con- 
nected with  his  garment,  whatever  its  color,  by  a  cord 
or  ribbon  of  blue  to  signify  the  heavenly  origin  of  that 
which  he  was  to  keep  in  remembrance.  Have  we  not, 
then,  reason  to  believe  that  the  ornamental  fringe  at  the 
bottom  of  the  robe  of  the  ephod  was  related  in  its 
design  and  significance  to  the  fringe  which  every  He- 
brew was  required  to  wear  on  his  upper  garment,^  and 
that  the  robe  was  throughout  of  blue  for  the  same  rea- 
son that  a  blue  ribbon  or  cord  must  connect  the  mantle 
of  the  layman  with  its  fringe  .''  But  this  fringe,  in  the 
case  of  the  high-priest,  consisted  of  tassels  in  the  shape 
of  pomegranates,  alternated  with  little  golden  bells. 
That  the  pomegranate,  when  employed  in  Hebrew  sym- 
bolism, represented  the  law  of  Jehovah,  which  included 
in  itself  a  multitude  of  particular  commands  and  prohi- 
bitions as  the  fruit  enclosed  its  thousands  of  seeds, 
appears  from  the  version  which  the  Chaldee  paraphrast 
gives  of  two  passages  in  the  Song  of  Solomon.  He 
translates,  "Thy  youth  are  filled  with  the  command- 
ments like  pomegranates,"  ^  where  our  version  is,  "  Thy 

1  Num.  XV.  38,  39. 

2  It  was  perhaps  a  "border"  such  as  this  law  required  which  communicated 
the  healing  power  of  our  Lord  to  those  who  touched  it.  Their  expectation  of  a 
cure  was  founded  on  that  remembrance  and  obedience  which  the  border  signified. 
The  Pharisees  enlarged  these  borders  to  an  extraordinary  size  to  signify  that  they 
excelled  in  holy  obedience  (Matt,  xxiii.  5). 

3  Buxtorf,  Lex.  Talm.  JD1,  p.  2265. 


Fig.  3S 
HIGH-PRIEST  IN  ROBE  OF  THE  EPIIOD. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRIESTHOOD.       335 

plants  are  a  garden  of  pomegranates  ;  "  and  "  They  are 
full  of  good  works  like  pomegranates,"  ^  instead  of 
"  The  pomegranates  budded."  The  Talmud  also  has 
the  phrase,  ''  They  are  full  of  the  commandments  as  a 
pomegranate."  ^  If,  then,  the  pomegranates  on  the  robe 
of  the  ephod  symbolized  the  law  in  its  totality  as  inclu- 
ding every  specific  requirement,  it  is  at  least  a  plausible 
conjecture  that  the  bells  with  which  they  alternated  sig- 
nified that  the  high-priest,  or  rather  the  covenant  people 
whom  he  represented,  were  not  only  to  remember  the 
commandments  of  Jehovah,  but  by  obeying  to  proclaim 
them.  So  far  as  they  remembered  and  obeyed  it,  the 
word  of  the  Lord  sounded  out  from  them. 

The  specifications  for  the  ephod  make  its  shoulder- 
pieces  so  prominent  that  the  Greek  and  Latin  versions 
give  it  names  in  those  languages  which  characterize  it  as 
a  shoulder-garment.^  But  the  shoulder  as  the  seat  of 
strength  was,  in  the  early  times  when  the  strongest 
ruled,  the  seat  of  authority,  and  the  most  appropriate 
position  for  an  emblem  of  government.  Hence  the  key 
of  the  house  of  David  was  to  be  laid  on  the  shoulder  of 
Eliakim,  to  show  that  he  superseded  Shebna  as  superin- 
tendent of  the  royal  household.^  According  to  the  same 
manner  of  speaking,  it  is  said  of  Messiah,  "  The  govern- 
ment shall  be  upon  his  shoulder."  ^  There  is,  perhaps,  a 
remnant  of  this  ancient  symbolism  in  the  epaulet,  as  a 
badge  of  command  in  an  army.  We  infer,  from  its 
peculiarity  as  a  shoulder-garment,  that  the  ephod  was  a 
symbol  of  rank  ;  and,  from  the  materials  of  which  it  was 
made,  that  it  invested  the  wearer  as  a  badge  of  royalty. 

1  Buxtorf,  Lex.  Talm.  JD"I,  p.  2265.  2  jbid. 

3  LXX.  kTruficQ  ;  Vulgate,  superhumerale.       *  Isa.  xxii.  21,  22.      6  isa.  ix.  6. 


336  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

This  garment  was  jDrovided  for  the  high-priest  as  the 
representative  of  the  holy  nation,  that  the  jewels  on  its 
shoulders,  and  the  threads  of  beaten  gold  woven  into  it 
throughout,  might  signify  that  they  were  kings  as  well 
as  priests..  The  four  sacred  colors  in  the  ephod  were 
the  livery  of  the  tabernacle,  marking  the  wearer  as  an 
inmate  of  the  house  ;  but  the  jewels  and  the  gold  indi- 
cated that  he  was  a  friend  rather  than  a  servant  of  the 
King.  A  high  rank  is  thus  accorded  and  sealed  to 
the  true  Israel.  They  are  not  only  priests,  but  a  royal 
priesthood.  They  draw  near  to  God  as  members  of  his 
household.  They  are  permitted  to  call  him  Father,  and 
regard  themselves  as  his  sons.  The  girdle  of  the  ephod 
concurred  with  its  jewelled  shoulder-pieces  and  its  gold, 
to  set  forth  the  dignity  of  the  high-priest,  and  of  the  sons 
of  God  in  whose  place  he  stood.  As  we  have  already 
had  occasion  to  remark,  the  girdle  often  became,  by  some 
peculiarity  in  its  fashion,  a  badge  of  rank  ;  and  here,  by 
its  identity  with  the  ephod  in  material  and  workmanship, 
it  assisted  to  distinguish  the  wearer.  The  two  jewels 
on  the  shoulders  of  the  ephod,  engraven  with  the  names 
of  the  twelve  tribes,  were  "  stones  of  memorial  unto  the 
children  of  Israel, "  ^  that  it  might  never  be  forgotten 
that  the  priest  was  the  proxy  of  the  people,  and  that  the 
royal  dignity  with  which  he  was  clothed  belonged  to 
them. 

The  breastplate  of  judgment  was  closely  connected 
in  significance  with  the  ephod,  indicating  that  the  wearer 
was  a  ruler  endowed  with  wisdom  for  the  decision  of 
important  questions  relating  to  the  public  welfare.  He 
wore  it  on  his  heart  because  the  heart  was  regarded  as 

1  Exod.  xxviii.  12. 
I 


Fig.  40. 
BREASTPLATE. 


Fig.  41. 
EPHOD,  WITH  BREASTPLATE  ATTACHED. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRIESTHOOD.        337 

the  seat  of  wisdom.  When  Solomon  came  to  the  throne, 
he  asked  God  to  give  him  an  understanding  heart  to 
judge  his  people,  and  received  the  reply,  "  Lo,  I  have 
given  thee  a  wise  and  an  understanding  heart." 
Whether,  therefore,  the  ephod  and  breastplate  are  viewed 
as  jointly  one  badge,  or  as  separate  badges,  the  latter 
symbolized  wisdom  for  judging  as  the  former  strength 
for  execution.  Made  in  the  form  of  a  bag,  it  contained 
something  called  the  Urim  and  Thummim}  designed, 
perhaps,  as  a  pledge  that  when  he  went,  with  the  breast- 
plate on  his  heart,  to  inquire  of  Jehovah  how  to  decide 
any  question  submitted  to  his  decision,  he  should  find 
the  matter  illuminated  with  a  perfect  light,  and  be  able 
to  decide  with  an  infallible  wisdom.  The  names  of  the 
twelve  sons  of  Jacob,  graven  on  the  jewels  of  the  breast- 
plate for  a  memorial,  were  designed  to  keep  in  remem- 
brance that  the  true  Israel  occupied  the  position  in  the 
matters  symbolized  by  the  tabernacle  which  the  high- 
priest  filled  in  the  symbolic  institution.  The  two 
memorials,  one  on  the  shoulder  and  one  on  the  heart, 
were  pledges  that  those  who  are  permitted  to  draw  near 
to  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth  are  kings,  as  well  as  priests, 
and  shall  not  only  be  admitted  to  see  his  face,  but  be 
employed  in  ruling  and  judging.^ 

The  head-dress  of  the  high-priest  was  distinguished 
from  that  of  his  subordinates  not  only  by  its  shape,  but 
by  its  plate  of  gold  bearing  the  inscription  Holiness  to 
Jehovah.     This  plate,  peculiar  to  him  as  the  head  bf  the 

1  The  words  Urim  and  Thummim,  Hterally  lights  and  perfections,  probably 
signify,  by  hendiadys,  perfect  light ;  but  we  can  only  conjecture  what  the  emblem 
so  called  was,  and  how  it  was  connected  with  other  parts  of  the  symbolic  apparatus. 
See  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary,  art.  Urim  and  Thummim. 

2  Rev.  V.  10. 

29 


338  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

priesthood,  and  of  the  nation  as  a  kingdom  of  priests, 
was  another  badge  of  rank,  and  equivalent  in  meaning  to 
a  crown.i  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  Assyrian  kings 
also  wore  plates  on  the  forefront  of  their  turbans,  fas- 
tened, like  that  of  the  Hebrew  high-priest,  by  a  ribbon 
tied  behind.^  The  inscription,  peculiarly  important  from 
its  position  on  the  forehead,  where,  according  to  the 
custom  not  only  of  the  Hebrews,^  but  of  other  Oriental 
nations,  religious  symbols  were  worn,  proclaimed  that 
the  high-priest  through  his  election,  his  physical  fault- 
lessness,  his  separation  from  common  life,  his  investment 
with  the  robes  of  office,  and  his  consecration,  was  so 
holy  that  he  might  not  only  approach  Jehovah,  but 
could  take  away  the  sins  of  his  people.  For  it  is  said 
of  this  crown,  "  It  shall  be  upon  Aaron's  forehead,  that 
Aaron  may  bear  the  iniquity  of  the  holy  things,  which 
the  children  of  Israel  shall  hallow  in  all  their  holy  gifts ; 
and  it  shall  be  always  upon  his  forehead,  that  they  may  be 
accepted  before  Jehovah."^  The  inscription  indicated 
such  holiness  in  the  mediator  as  would  not  only  cancel 
the  defects  of  the  worshippers,  but  procure  for  them 
positive  favor  on  his  account.  Their  iniquity  was 
taken  away ;  and  they  were  accounted  holy  because 
their  representative  was  holy.  The  typical  element 
enters  so  largely  into  the  symbolism  of  the  high- 
priest,  that  it  has  been  difficult  to  proceed  as  far 
as  we  have  without  including  it  in  our  exposition ; 
and    it    is    impossible    satisfactorily   to    interpret    the 

1  Exod.  xxix.  6,  xxxix.  30 ;  Lev.  viii.  9. 

2  See  fig.  45. 

3  Ezek.  ix.  4 ;  Rev.  vii.  3,  ix.  4,  xiii.  16,  xiv.  1-9,  xvii.  5,  xx.  4,  xxii.  4. 
For  an  Egyptian  example,  see  Wilkinson,  Second  Series,  vol.  i.  p.  348 . 

*  Exod.  xxviii.  38.  • 


Fig.  42. 

TURBAN  OF  A 

SUBORDINATE  PRIEST. 


Fui.  43- 
TURBAN  OF  THE 
HIGH-PRIEST. 


Fig.  44. 
GOLDEN  CROWN. 


Fig.  45. 

HEAD   OF   AN   ASSYRIAN    KING   WITH  A  CROWN   ON   THE 

FOREHEAD. 


^'*— ttfc^^^' 


Fig.  46. 
HIGH-PRIEST  IN  HIS  ORDINARY  COSTUME. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRIESTHOOD.       339 

crown  and  its  inscription,  without  pointing  forward 
through  the  ages  to  the  true  priest  of  whom  Aaron  was 
a  prophetic  symbol.  But,  as  we  purpose  to  devote  a 
chapter  to  those  symbols  of  the  tabernacle  which  were 
prophetic,  we  pass  on  to  observe  that  there  was  signifi- 
cance in  the  color  of  the  ribbons  with  which  the  crown 
was  fastened  to  the  head-dress.  They  were  blue,  to 
denote  that  this  holiness  was  not  of  earthly  and  human, 
but  of  heavenly  and  divine  origin. 

The  garments  in  which  the  high-priest  officiated  on 
the  day  of  atonement  should  not  be  confounded  with  the 
costume  of  a  subordinate  priest,  for  they  must  be  exclu- 
sively white ;  whereas,  the  girdles  of  the  sons  of  Aaron, 
like  that  with  which  Aaron  himself  was  ordinarily  girt 
immediately  over  his  tunic,  were  ornamented  with  the 
four  sacred  colors.  The  garments  of  gold,  as  the  ordi- 
nary costume  of  the  high-priest  was  sometimes  styled, 
were  laid  aside  for  the  moment  to  give  greater  promi- 
nence to  the  idea  of  purity  as  suggested  by  whiteness. 
Coming  nearer  to  Jehovah  than  at  any  other  time  during 
the  year,  the  representative  of  Israel  wore  only  white 
garments,  to  show  forth  as  impressively  as  possible  the 
holiness  of  the  Being  whom  he  approached.^ 

Of  the  ceremonies  of  consecration,  the  washing  of 
the  priests  evidently  signified  the  removal  of  spiritual 
uncleanness,  the  investment  with  the  official  costume 
was  equivalent  to  an  investiture  with  the  office,  and  the 

1  It  is  a  mistake  to  regard  the  garments  which  the  high-priest  wore  on  the  day 
of  atonement,  as  a  penitential  costume.  White  was  significant  of  joy,  rather 
than  of  grief,  being  worn  on  festive  occasions  ;  and  was  on  that  account  more 
appropriate  for  holiness,  or  ethical  health,  which  is  necessarily  accompanied  with 
enjo)Tnent. 


340  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

unction  they  received  indicated  that  they  were  divinely 
enlivened  and  refreshed  in  spirit  for  the  work  to  which 
they  were  separated.  The  consecrating  oil  which  was 
sprinkled  on  Aaron  and  his  garments,  and  on  his  sons 
and  their  garments,  was  also  poured  on  the  head  of 
Aaron  till  it  ran  down  on  his  beard,  to  show  that  as 
the  chief  of  the  order  "he  needed  and  would  receive  the 
Spirit  of  God  in  richest  fulness."  ^ 

The  threefold  sacrifice  which  followed  consisted  of 
a  sin-offering  to  take  away  the  sin  of  the  candidates,  a 
holocaust  to  show  that  they  surrendered  themselves  to 
Jehovah,  and  a  peace-offering ;  the  last  being  made,  by 
some  peculiarities  in  its  ritual,  a  sacrifice  of  consecration 
to  the  office.  There  being  as  yet  no  priests  duly  inducted 
into  office,  Moses  himself,  as  the  mediator  of  the  covenant, 
officiated  in  the  sacrifices,  following  in  general  the 
established  ritual,  but  with  such  variations  as  the  pecu- 
liarities of  the  case  demanded.  The  blood  of  the  sin- 
offering  was  not  carried  within  the  habitation,  because 
the  persons  purified  were  not  yet  priests,  but  was  sprin- 
kled on  the  altar  as  in  the  expiation  of  a  private  person  ; 
and  the  flesh  of  it  could  not  be  eaten  by  Moses,  because 
he  was  not  a  consecrated  priest,  but  must  be  burned 
without  the  camp.  The  burnt-offering  seems  to  have 
followed  the  ritual  in  all  points.  The  ordinary  ritual  of 
the  peace-offering  gave  place  to  ceremonies  of  consecra- 
tion specially  adapted  to  symbolize  sacerdotal  preroga- 
tives'and  functions.  Some  of  the  blood  was  applied  to 
an  ear,  a  thumb,  and  a  great  toe  of  each  candidate  ;  and 
he  was  caused  to  heave  the  heave-shoulder,  and  wave  the 
wave-breast,  to  show  that  in  the  office  to  which  he  was 

1  Kurtz  :  Sacrificial  Worship  of  the  Old  Testament,  p.  331. 


Fu:.  47. 
HIGH-PRIEST  IN  COS-TUME   OF  THE    DAY   OF  ATONEMENT, 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PRIESTHOOD.        341 

consecrated  he  would  be  authorized  and  required  thus  to 
apply  the  blood  of  expiation,  and  thus  to  cause  the 
worshippers  for  whom  he  officiated  to  heave  the  heave- 
shoulder,  and  to  wave  the  wave-breast,  of  their  peace- 
offerings,  before  Jehovah.  The  flesh  was  divided  into 
two  portions,  like  the  flesh  of  any  peace-offering ;  one 
being  consumed  on  the  altar,  and  the  other  eaten  by 
Aaron  and  his  sons,  to  signify  the  fellowship  between 
the  Holy  One  whom  the  altar  represented,  and  those 
whom  he  had  accepted  as  the  members  of  his  household, 
and  the  officers  of  his  holy  habitation. 

It  was  not  without  meaning  that  these  ceremonies  of 
consecration  were  repeated  daily  for  seven  days ;  the 
repetitions,  and  the  number  which  limited  them,  both 
concurring  with  all  the  other  elements  in  the  represen- 
tation to  indicate  that  the  priesthood  was  an  office  of 
high  honor  and  privilege.  As  such  it  was  adapted  to 
symbolize  the  glory  And  blessedness  of  those  who  draw 
near  to  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 
29* 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

INTERPRETATION   OF   THE   SACRIFICES   OF   THE 
TABERNACLE. 

Religious  feeling  naturally  expresses  itself  in  offer- 
ings as  well  as  in  prayer.  Man  feels  his  dependence, 
and  is  impelled  to  acknowledge  it  by  tributary  gifts,  as 
well  as  in  verbal  utterance.  He  is  grateful  for  what  he 
has  received,  and  presents  a  thank-offering.  He  is 
conscious  of  guilt,  and  seeks  to  propitiate  with  a  present. 
The  question  whether  offerings  to  God  were  first 
brought  to  him  by  his  own  appointment,  or  were 
prompted  by  man's  religious  instinct,  is  of  no  practical 
importance  ;  since,  if  they  originated  in  the  yearning  of 
the  human  heart  after  God,  they  were  at  once  approved 
by  him,  and,  if  first  enjoined  by  him,  it  was  because  the 
heart  of  man  would  naturally  express  itself  by  such 
means.  If  not  of  divine  institution,  they  must  have 
been  very  early  invented,  for  they  were  in  use  in  the 
family  of  Adam  even  before  the  birth  of  his  youngest 
child.  Moreover,  Cain  and  Abel  seem  to  bring  their 
offerings  to  Jehovah  not  as  if  inaugurating  a  new  mode  of 
worship,  but  as  if  in  conformity  with  a  custom  already 
established.  Originating  thus  early,  the  custom  of 
worshipping  by  means  of  offerings  remained  in  vogue 
through  the  antediluvian  period,  and,  when  the  descend- 
342 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  SACRIFICES.         343 

ants  of  Noah  were  dispersed,  was  preserved  by  all 
branches  of  the  family.  The  universality  of  the  custom 
among  the  ancient  nations  proves  that,  whether  .  of 
divine  or  human  origin,  it  was  in  accord  with  the  nature 
of  man. 

The  cloud  of  obscurity,  which  rests  on  the  beginning 
of  worship  by  means  of  offerings,  envelops  also  the  origin 
of  diversity  in  the  substance  of  which  they  consisted,  and 
in  the  meaning  they  were  intended  to  convey.  The 
offerings  of  Cain  and  Abel  being  of  different  material,  it 
has  been  conjectured  that  Cain  purposely  avoided  the 
expression  of  such  opinions  and  feelings  as  were  sym- 
bolized in  the  bleeding  sacrifice  of  his  brother.  But  as 
these  offerings  are  not  introduced  into  the  sacred  history 
on  their  own  account,  but  only  incidentally  mentioned  as 
occasioning  the  fratricide  which  followed,  the  narrative 
is  too  brief  and  general  in  its  statement  to  justify  the 
reception  of  such  a  hypothesis  as  the  only  possible 
explanation  of  the  difference  which  the  eye  of  Jehovah 
discovered  in  the  two  worshippers.  The  altar-worship 
of  Abraham  and  Jacob,  though  frequently  mentioned,  is 
not  described  with  sufficient  amplification  to  exhibit  to 
the  reader  the  specific  ideas  it  expressed.  Some  of  the 
distinctions  between  one  offering  and  another  observable 
in  the  worship  of  the  tabernacle  may  have  obtained 
before  the  time  of  Moses,  and,  if  altar-worship  was  first 
practised  by  divine  direction,  may  have  been  as  ancient 
as  sacrifice  itself.  No  such  distinctions,  however,  are 
apparent  to  the  reader  of  the  Pentateuch  till  he  reaches 
the  account  of  the  exodus.  That  event  originated  a 
peculiar  species  of  sacrifice,  which  became  an  institution. 
We  shall  have  occasion  to  interpret  it  when  we  speak  of 


344  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

the  annual  festival  of  the  passover.  The  law  afterward 
given  at  Sinai  enumerated  several  species  of  offerings, 
different  in  name,  in  material,  in  the  accompanying  cere- 
monies, and  in  the  ideas  they  were  intended  to  exhibit. 
The  symbolism  of  these  offerings  we  have  now  to 
interpret. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  the  sacrifice  described  by 
Moses  under  the  name  of  sin-offering  is  of  more  ancient 
date  than  the  law  of  Sinai,  or  that  there  was  any  offering 
in  the  patriarchal  period  whose  chief  element  was  expia- 
tory. Probably  all  bleeding  sacrifices  contained  the  idea 
of  expiation  ;  but  the  animals  brought  to  the  altar  by 
Noah  were  burnt-offerings,  symbolizing  self-surrender  or 
allegiance  in  general,  rather  than  expiation  in  particular. 
In  no  other  case  prior  to  the  time  of  Moses  is  a  sacrifice 
designated  by  a  specific  name  ;  so  that,  while  it  is  not 
absolutely  certain  that  none  of  them  were  primarily  and 
chiefly  sin-offerings,  it  seems  probable  that  a  sacrifice  of 
expiation  was  unknown  before  the  time  of  Moses  except 
as  it  was  included  in  the  sacrifice  of  broader  import  in 
which  the  flesh  was  consumed  on  the  altar. 

The  Hebrew  sin-offering  has  such  adaptation  to  the 
wants  of  a  person  subjected  to  the  discipline  of  the 
comprehensive  and  exceedingly  particular  law  of  Sinai, 
that  one  can  easily  believe  it  was  a  portion  of  the  same 
system  with  the  law  itself,  intended  to  impart  the  assur- 
ance of  salvation  where  the  law  had  awakened  the 
consciousness  of  guilt.  The  sacrificial  customs  which 
the  Hebrews  had  inherited  from  their  ancestors  were 
modified  in  order  that,  as  conscience  was  quickened  to 
more  frequent  and  more  lively  accusation,  they  might  be 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  SACRIFICES.         345 

provided  with  consolation  and  encouragement  in  corre- 
sponding degree. 

The  elevation  of  the  expiatory  element  from  the 
subsidiary  position  it  held  in  patriarchal  sacrifices,  to  be 
the  head  and  front  of  one  species  of  offering,  was  also  a 
step  in  the  preparation  of  mankind  for  the  great  expiation 
in  which  all  sacrifices  were  to  be  swallowed  up,  and  cease 
to  be  offered,  as  the  constellations  which  relieve  the  dark- 
ness of  night  are  extinguished  by  the  effulgence  of  the 
morning  sun.  Expiation  being  at  first  symbolized  in 
connection  with  the  profession  of  allegiance,  the  law  of 
Sinai  exalted  it  to  be  celebrated  by  means  of  a  distinct 
sacrifice,  and  thus  erected  another  waymark  on  the  path 
of  life. 

The  Mosaic  sin-offering  being,  as  the  name  indicates, 
chiefly  expiatory,  we  have  first  to  define  the  expiation  it 
was  intended  to  effect.  It  must  be  remembered,  how- 
ever, that  the  idea  prominent  in  this  species  of  Sacrifice 
was  present  in  all  the  bloody  sacrifices  of  the  tabernacle. 
This  appears  from  the  reason  assigned  for  the  law  forbid- 
ding the  Hebrew  to  eat  blood.  The  reason  is  given  in 
these  words  :  "  For  the  life  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood  : 
and  I  have  given  it  to  you  upon  the  altar  to  make  an 
atonement  for  your  souls  :  for  it  is  the  blood  that  maketh 
an  atonement  [for]  with  the  soul."  ^  Blood  was  not  to 
be  eaten  because,  when  applied  to  the  altar,  it  expiated 
sin  with  the  soul  or  life  of  the  animal  slain.  But  blood 
being  thus  applied  to  the  altar  in  the  ceremonial  of  the 
sin-offering,  the  trespass-offering,  the  burnt-offering,  and 
the  peace-offering  severally,  each  of   them    must  have 

1  Lev.  xvii.  11.  The  preposition  1  in  the  last  clause  is  spoken  of  the  instru- 
ment.   See  note  on  p.  254. 


346  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

included  the  idea  of  expiation,  though  it  was  more 
prominent  in  the  first  and  second  than  in  the  third  and 
fourth. 

Expiation,  or  as  the  English  version  expresses  it, 
atonement,  was  effected  through  the  sprinkling,  by  a 
priest,  of  blood  drawn  from  an  animal  devoted  to  death 
by  the  sinner,  and  slain  jsy- hi«a-on  the  north  side  of  the 
altar  in  the  court  of  the  tabernacle.  In  every  case 
where  an  animal  was  offered  on  the  altar,  some  of  its 
blood  was  sprinkled  to  make  an  atonement.  This  is 
expressly  prescribed  in  the  statutes  concerning  the  differ- 
ent species  of  sacrifice,  except  in  the  case  of  the  peace- 
offering  ;  and  there  the  same  ceremony  is  enjoined,  but 
without  the  clause  explanatory  of  its  meaning.  What- 
ever else  a  devout  Hebrew  wished  to  see  represented  by 
means  of  a  bloody  sacrifice,  his  feelings  prompted  him  to 
include  the  acknowledgment  of  sin,  and  the  divine  assur- 
ance of  forgiveness.  The  law  provided,  therefore,  that, 
when  he  presented  a  burnt-offering  to  signify  his  self- 
surrender,  or  a  peace-offering  as  a  means  of  enjoying 
fellowship  with  God,  the  ceremonial  appropriate  to  the 
specific  design  of  the  sacrifice  should  be  preceded  by  a 
sign,  which  was  both  symbolic  and  sacramental,  that  the 
sins  of  the  worshipper  were  obliterated,  and  that  he  was 
consequently  delivered  from  his  liability  to  die  as  a 
transgressor.  This  sign  consisted  in  the  act  of  the 
priest  bringing  near  to  Jehovah  the  sacrificial  blood, 
which,  as  the  victim  was  the  proxy  of  the  worshipper, 
symbolized  the  life  of  the  latter.  By  passing  through  in 
his  stead  the  death  to  which  he  was  liable  on  account  of 
sin,  the  life  or  soul  of  the  animal,  which  was  in  its  blood, 
bad  borne  or  taken  away  his  sins  ;  and,  being  still  his 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  SACRIFICES.         347 

proxy,  was  now  brought  by  the  priest  to  the  place  where 
Jehovah  met  his  people,  to  show  that  the  soul  whose 
place  the  victim  had  assumed  was  entitled  to  live,  and 
to  draw  near  to  the  living  God,  as  if  righteous. 

Obviously,  such  a  transaction  cannot  really  take  away 
sin.  Nothing  can  change  the  nature  of  a  wicked  act  so 
that  he  who  committed  it  ceases  to  be  blameworthy  for 
what  he  has  done.  A  symbolic  transaction  with  the 
blood  of  bulls  and  goats  cannot  even  cancel  the  demand 
of  justice  that  the  transgression  of  law  shall  be  punished. 
But  such  a  transaction  may  represent,  by  means  of  its 
symbols,  and  in  this  case  was  appointed  to  represent, 
that  the  sinner  was  released  from  punishment,  and  treated 
as  if  righteous,  on  account  of  some  substitution,  not 
symbolic,  but  real  and  efficient,  to  which  this  transaction 
stands  related  as  a  shadow  does  to  the  substance  inter- 
cepting the  light.  What  means  the  Hebrew  had  of  dis- 
covering that  the  true  expiation  was  a  future,  and  not  a  past 
event,  we  have  to  consider  not  in  the  present  stage  of 
our  discussion,  but  further  on  when  we  take  up  the  sub- 
ject of  types.  Definite  information  in  regard  to  the  real 
and  efificient  substitution  symbolized  by  the  ceremonial 
of  a  sacrifice  was  not  necessary  to  the  expiation  of  his 
sin,  or  to  his  confidence  that  he  was  accepted  and  treated 
as  if  righteous.  That  which  was  propounded  to  his 
faith  was  the  symbol,  and  not  the  Lamb  of  God  to 
which  in  our  day  sinners  are  invited  to  look.  Having 
faith  in  the  symbol  as  a  symbol,  he  was  justified,  that  is, 
accepted  and  treated  as  if  he  were  a  just  person,  on  the 
ground  that  a  substitute  had  been  provided  for  him  by 
God,  which  could  really  take  away  sin ;  and  the  symbol 
not  only  set  forth  this  fact  for  his  comfort,  but  included 


348  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

an  appointed  seal  that  he,  personally,  was  a  partaker  in 
the  redemption  thus  provided. 

The  symbolic  expiation  culminated  in  the  sprinkling 
of  blood  by  the  priest ;  but  it  by  no  means  follows  that 
this  one  act  included  all  that  was  essential  to  the 
ceremony.  There  were  certain  species  of  animals 
appointed  to  the  altar,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others  ;  and 
the  blood  must  come  from  one  of  the  class  thus  set 
apart  for  sacrifice.  It  must  be  drawn  from  a  victim 
devoted  to  the  purpose  by  the  transgressor ;  an  animal 
belonging  to  him,  and  not  to  another  person.  The 
sinner  himself  must  slaughter  the  animal,  and  do  it  on 
the  north  side  of  the  altar.  These  preliminaries  were 
as  essential  to  an  expiation  as  the  act  of  the  priest 
bringing  the  blood  near  to  God.  The  sprinkling  of  the 
blood,  in  which  the  expiation  culminated,  was  a  sacra- 
mental sign,  assuring  the  sacrificer  that  his  sin  was  taken 
away  ;  but  it  was  only  a  part  of  the  symbolic  expiation. 

In  analyzing  the  process  by  which  the  symbolic 
expiation  was  effected,  we  have  attained  to  a  fuller  and 
more  nearly  perfect  conception  of  that  which  the  process 
effected  than  we  could  have  reached  by  the  study  of 
Hebrew  etymology.  The  word  translated  make  an 
atonement  means,  primarily,  to  cover.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  the  translation  is  substantially  correct  ; 
but  the  process  by  which  a  word  primarily  meaning  to 
cover  came  to  be  of  equivalent  import  with  the  cere- 
monial commencing  in  the  presentation  of  an  animal 
before  the  altar,  and  ending  in  the  sprinkling  of  its 
blood  by  the  priest,  is  lost,  and  can  be  only  conjecturally 
recovered.  To  expiate  is  to  cover.  A  symbolic  expia- 
tion by  means  of  a  sacrifice  was  a  pantomimic  represen- 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  SACRIFICES.         349 

tation  assuring  the  sacrificer  that  his  sin  was  covered, 
and  that  consequently  he  would  be  treated  as  if  he  had 
not  sinned. 

The  first  step  in  the  ceremonial  of  the  sin-offering 
was  the  presentation  by  the  transgressor,  of  the  animal 
which  was  to  die  in  his  stead.  According  to  his  higher 
or  lower  position  in  the  theocracy,  and  the  comparative 
importance  of  his  sin  resulting  from  his  relative  standing, 
he  brought  a  bullock,  a  male  kid,  or  a  female  lamb  or 
kid.  A  bullock  marked  the  higher  position  of  a  priest, 
and  the  greater  importance  of  his  sin.  A  kid,  an  animal 
of  less  value  than  a  bullock,  was  required  of  a  ruler ;  but 
it  must  be  of  the  male  sex  to  mark  the  sin  as  an  event 
of  greater  moment  than  if  the  transgressor  were  not 
thus  distinguished.  A  female  kid  or  lamb  was  the 
sin-offering  appointed  for  one  of  the  common  people. 
When  the  sacrifice  was  for  a  national  sin,  the  victim  was 
the  same  as  if  a  priest  needed  expiation. 

The  sacrificer,  having  brought  an  animal  of  the  kind 
appointed  for  a  person  of  his  rank  to  the  side  of  the 
altar,  put  his  hand  with  solemn  formality  on  its  head. 
To  comprehend  this  imposition  of  the  hand,  one  must 
examine  other  instances  in  which  the  hand  was  similarly 
employed.  It  was  so  used  in  blessing,^  in  imparting 
the  Holy  Spirit,^  in  imparting  the  prerogatives  of  an 
office  or  the  qualifications  for  it,^  in  performing  miracu- 
lous cures,^  and  in  sentencing  a  criminal  to  execution.^ 
Whatever  specific  difference  of  meaning  there  may  have 
been  in  the  ceremony  as  employed  for  these  different 

1  Gen.  xlviii.  13,  14  ;  Mark  x.  16.  2  Actsviii.  17-19. 

3  Num.  viii.  10,  xxvii.  18  ^^  seq. ;  Deut.  xxxiv.  9  ;  Acts  vi.  6 ;  i  Tim.  iv.  14,  v.  22. 

*  Matt.  ix.  18 ;  Mark  vi.  5  ;  Luke  xiii.  13  ;  Acts  ix.  12,  17. 

5  Lev.  xxiv.  14. 

30 


350  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

specific  purposes,  it  must  have  had  a  generic  significance 
common  to  all  instances  in  which  it  was  appropriate. 
But  imparting  or  giving  to  the  person  on  whom  the 
hand  is  laid  is  an  idea  common  to  the  above-cited 
specifications.  This  appears  at  first  sight  in  regard  to 
all  the  cases  except  that  of  condemning  to  die,  and 
appears  also  in  that  case  as  soon  as  we  conceive  of  the 
persons  imposing  their  hands  as  imparting  condemna- 
tion. Remote  as  such  a  mode  of  conception  may  be 
from  our  habits  of  thought,  there  is  no  more  incongruity 
in  the  impartation  of  a  curse  by  such  a  symbolic  act 
than  of  a  blessing.  Doubtless,  then,  the  ceremony 
under  consideration  signified  in  all  cases  that  the  person 
who  laid  his  hand  on  another  imparted  something,  the 
spectator  being  dependent  on  the  peculiarities  of  the 
case,  or  an  accompanying  explanation,  for  his  knowledge 
of  what  was  conveyed.  When,  therefore,  the  sacrificer 
laid  his  hand  on  the  head  of  the  animal  which  was  to 
expiate  his  sin  by  dying  in  his  stead,  it  is  most  natural 
to  understand  that  he  meant  to  impart  to  the  animal  the 
power  to  be  his  representative  in  the  transaction  about 
to  take  place.^ 

The  slaughtering  of  the  animal  was  the  consummation 
of  the  vicarious  death  to  which  it  had  been  appointed  by 
the  imposition  of  hands.  The  personal  agency  of  the 
sacrificer,  in  taking  the  life  of  his  substitute,  gave 
emphasis  to  his  acknowledgment  of  ill-desert,  and  his 
consent  to  the  substitution.     The  north  side  of  the  altar, 

1  Some  have  seen  in  this  act  the  impartation  of  sin  ;  but  such  an  interpretation 
is  unnatural,  because  sin  cannot  be  imparted.  The  turpitude  of  sin  adheres  to  him 
■who  sinned  ;  and  the  transfer  of  it  to  another  is  as  impossible  as  the  transfer  of 
personal  identity.  The  interpretation  we  have  given  accords  well  with  the  letter 
of  the  statute  in  Lev.  L  4. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  SACRIFICES.  351 

where  the  animal  was  put  to  death,  connected  the  event 
with  the  region  which  the  ancients  feared  as  the  abode 
of  darkness,  gloom,  and  calamity. 

The  sprinkling  of  the  blood,  in  which  was  the  life  of 
the  innocent  proxy,  covered  the  soul  of  the  sinful  but 
penitent  principal,  so  that  Jehovah  could  receive  him  as 
if  innocent.  The  two  had  exchanged  places,  but  not 
characters.  The  animal  had  suffered  death  as  if  guilty  : 
the  sinner  might  draw  near  to  God  as  if  sinless.  In  this 
covering  of  one  soul  with  another  soul,^  the  atonement 
consisted ;  and  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood  in  the  places 
where  God  manifested  his  presence  at  once  completed 
the  symbolic  representation,  and  afforded  a  sacramental 
seal  that  a  real  expiation  was  accomplished.  The  soul 
of  the  proxy  was  brought  into  Jehovah's  presence  by  his 
direction,  and  by  his  authorized  representative,  to  show 
and  to  testify  that  the  penitent  sinner  himself  might 
draw  near.  It  is  consequently  this  application  of  the 
blood  to  the  holy  places  which  is  termed  making  an 
atonement?  The  vicarious  death  did  not  of  itself 
expiate  ;  the  acceptance  by  Jehovah,  through  his  priest, 
of  the  life  thus  surrendered,  was  still  necessary.  By 
allowing  and  commanding  it  to  be  brought  to  his  imme- 
diate presence,  he  signified  his  acceptance  of  the 
substitution,  and  his  consequent  willingness  to  restore 
to  his  fellowship  the  person  whose  soul  had  been 
covered.^ 

1  For  an  explanation  of  this  usage  of  ^^  soul,"  see  p.  253.       2  Lev.  xvii.  11. 

3  Atonement  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  made  for  the  soul,  and  sometimes  as 
for  the  sin,  of  the  sacrificer  ;  but  these  different  modes  of  expression  imply  only 
different  aspects  of  the  same  truth.  The  soul  of  the  proxy  covered  the  soul, 
or  it  covered  the  sin,  according  to  the  stand-point  from  which  the  subject  was 
viewed. 


352  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

This  symbolic  transaction  presupposed  another  and  a 
real  expiation  which  it  made  available  to  the  sacrificer. 
It  was  not  necessary  that  he  should  know  how,  where, 
or  when  that  expiation  was  made,  or  was  to  be  made. 
Faith  could  leave  with  God  the  solution  of  the  question, 
How  can  sin  be  forgiven  consistently  with  rectitude  ? 
and  enable  the  believer  to  see,  in  the  reception  upon  the 
altar  of  the  blood  or  soul  of  his  proxy,  the  sacramental 
sign  that  he  himself  might  approach.  It  was  enough  for 
him  that  Jehovah  had  said,  "  I  have  given  the  blood  to 
you  upon  the  altar  to  make  an  atonement  for  your  souls  ; 
for  it  is  the  blood  that  maketh  an  atonement  with  ^  the 
soul." 

There  was  significance  in  the  application  of  the  blood 
to  the  particular  place  it  was  made  to  touch.  When  a 
priest  had  sinned,  the  blood  of  his  sin-offering  was 
carried  within  the  habitation,  where  some  of  it  was 
sprinkled  before  the  veil,  and  some  was  put  on  the  horns 
of  the  altar  of  incense,  to  indicate  that  by  the  expia- 
tion of  his  sin  he  was  entitled  to  enter  the  sanctuary, 
and  enjoy  that  immediate  fellowship  with  God  to  which 
priests  were  admitted,  as  if  he  had  not  sinned.  When 
the  sacrificer  was  a  layman,  the  blood  was  put  on  the 
horns  of  the  great  altar  in  the  court,  to  signify  that 
the  expiation  admitted  him  to  such  mediate  fellowship  as 
Jehovah  allowed  to  the  whole  congregation  of  his  people. 
In  either  case,  the  sin  was  so  covered  that  the  penitent 
was  entitled  to  the  privileges  he  had  forfeited.  The 
penalty  of  death  which  he  deserved  was  remitted,  and 
his  title  to  theocratic  life  was  assured  to  him  by  a 
sacramental  sign. 

1  See  note  on  p.  254. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  SACRIFICES.         353 

Expiation  having  now  been  completed  by  the  sprink- 
ling of  blood,  it  remained  to  dispose  of  the  flesh.  The 
flesh  of  a  sin-offering  belonged  to  God  as  truly  as  that 
of  a  holocaust ;  but  there  was  not  the  same  necessity 
that  all  of  it  should  be  burned.  The  entire  consumption 
of  the  burnt-offering  represented  the  unreservedness 
with  which  the  sacrificer  gave  himself  to  God,  and  was 
consequently  an  important  element  in  the  ritual  of  that 
sacrifice.  But  in  the  ritual  of  the  sin-offering  it  only 
remained,  after  expiation  had  been  completed  by  sprink- 
ling the  blood,  that  Jehovah  should  manifest  in  the 
disposal  of  the  flesh  the  feelings  with  with  which  he 
regarded  the  restoration  of  the  penitent.  Accordingly  by 
receiving  a  portion  on  the  altar,  and  giving  the  remain- 
der to  his  household  for  their  food,  he  demonstrated  his 
and  their  joy  in  that  which  the  sacrifice  had  effected. 
The  sin-offerings  were  accordingly  eaten  by  the  priests 
within  the  precincts  of  the  tabernacle,  their  families  not 
being  allowed  to  partake  with  them  because  the  flesh 
was  "  most  holy."  It  was  not  only  the  "  bread  of  God," 
as  all  sacrifices  were,  but  exceeded  a  peace-offering  in 
holiness  ;  for  not  only  the  wives  and  children  of  the 
priests,  but  the  sacrificer  and  his  friends,  were  allowed  to 
partake  of  the  latter,  whereas  the  sin-offering  was  given 
to  the  priests  to  be  eaten  in  the  house  of  God  by  them 
only  as  members  of  his  household.  The  offerer  could 
not  partake  of  it;  for,  by  furnishing  the  blood  of  atone- 
ment, it  had  become  holy,  and  its  holiness  had  been 
brought  into  antithesis  with  his  sinfulness.  So  impor- 
tant was  this  exclusion  from  the  feast  of  the  person 
expiated  by  the  sacrifice,  that  when  the  sin-offering  was 
for  a  priest,  or  for  the  whole  congregation,  the  participa' 
30* 


354  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

tion  of  the  priests  with  Jehovah  was  omitted,  and  the 
whole  of  the  flesh,  with  the  exception  of  the  fat,  was 
carried  to  a  clean  place  outside  of  the  camp,  and  there 
disposed  of  by  burning.  A  sinner  might  never  eat  of 
the  sacrifice  by  which  he  was  purged  from  his  sins.  By 
taking  away  sin,  it  had  itself  become  a  "most  holy 
thing,"  acquiring  rank  in  holiness  above  peace-offerings, 
which  were  classed  with  "  holy  things,"  while  a  sin- 
offering  was  "  most  holy."  Its  holiness  was  so  great 
that  it  could  be  eaten  only  in  the  court  of  the  tabernacle, 
and  only  by  the  priests  ;  that  a  vessel  wherein  it  had  been 
cooked,  if  of  earthen-ware,  must  be  broken  lest  the 
holiness  it  had  acquired  by  the  contact  should  be  con- 
taminated by  some  subsequent  use,  or,  if  of  brass,  must 
be  scoured  and  rinsed.^ 

The  trespass-offering  being  so  similar  to  the  sin- 
offering  in  its  design  and  ritual,  being,  indeed,  one  form 
of  the  sin-offering,  needs  no  separate  elucidation.  The 
injury  to  property  having  been  repaired  by  the  payment 
of  the  required  compensation,  a  male  lamb  was  sacrificed, 
and  its  blood  sprinkled  on  the  altar  in  expiation ;  the 
position  of  the  trespasser  in  the  theocracy  not  being 
marked,  as  in  other  sin-offerings,  by  a  difference  in  the 
animals  required  from  priests,  rulers,  and  private 
persons,  respectively.  The  blood  was  applied  not  to  the 
horns  or  highest  parts  of  the  altar,  as  in  the  sin-offering 
restrictively  so  called,  but  to  its  sides  ;  expiation  being 
relatively  less  prominent  on  account  of  the  reparation 
made  by  the  offender  in  connection  with  the  sacrifice. 

1  Lev.  vi.  25-30.  This  passage  has  been  strangely  misunderstood  as  it  the  sin- 
otfering  defiled  the  vessels  in  which  it  was  cooked,  when  it  is  expressly  said  to  be 
"  most  holy." 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  SACRIFICES.         355 

The  burnt-offering  of  Mosaism  seems  to  have  been 
the  continuation  of  the  bleeding  sacrifice  of  the  patriar- 
chal period ;  the  sin-offering  and  the  peace-offering 
growing  out  from  it  as  the  side-branches  of  a  tree  from 
the  stem.  Its  ritual  commenced  with  an  expiation. 
The  sacrificer  constituted  the  victim  his  proxy  by  the 
imposition  of  his  hand,  and  slaughtered  it.  The  priest 
then  made  atonement  for  him  by  sprinkling  the  blood 
Upon  the  sides  of  the  altar  in  like  manner  as  in  the 
trespass-offering.  The  way  was  thus  prepared  for  perform- 
ing acceptably  the  self-surrender  symbolized  by  giving 
to  Jehovah  the  flesh  of  the  slaughtered  animal.  The 
representation  of  atonement  properly  preceded  the  out- 
ward and  symbolic  consecration,  as  the  real  expiation  of 
sin  was  a  necessary  antecedent  to  an  acceptable  offering 
of  himself  by  the  worshipper  as  a  spiritual  sacrifice. 
The  animal  for  a  voluntary  burnt-offering  might  be 
taken  either  from  the  herd,  or  from  the  flock,  or  it  might 
be  a  pigeon.  In  the  latter  case,  its  sex,  not  appearing  in 
the  representation,  was  a  matter  of  indifference ;  but, 
when  a  quadruped  was  brought  for  this  species  of 
sacrifice,  it  must  be  a  male,  to  show  the  importance 
of  the  transaction,  and  to  set  forth  with  emphasis  the 
energy  and  earnestness  with  which  the  sacrificer  gave 
himself  to  God.  The  flesh,  having  been  placed  on  the 
altar,  was  sent  up  to  heaven  in  the  flame  of  the  holy 
fire.  No  part  of  it  was  reserved,  but  all  was  consumed 
as  a  whole  burnt-offering  to  signify  that  the  self-surren- 
der was  entire. 

The  burnt-offering  was  always  accompanied  by  a  food- 
offering,  and  might  be  regarded  as  including  it  were  it 


35^  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

not  that  in  other  circumstances  the  food-offering  was 
offered  independently.  The  sacrificer  could  not  truly 
surrender  himself  to  Jehovah  without  including  in  his 
consecration  the  fruits  of  his  life-work;  and  therefore 
the  symbolic  transaction  must  include  gifts  of  corn  in 
the  form  of  bread,  flour,  or  roasted  ears. 

Holiness  will  always  show  itself  in  the  life ;  but  the 
good  deeds  which  result  are  not  all  of  one  pattern. 
They  vary  in  different  persons,  as  constitutions  and 
circumstances  are  various.  Accordingly  the  Hebrew 
was  permitted  to  symbolize,  by  any  of  the  preparations 
of  wheat  he  was  accustomed  to  use  in  his  family,  the 
good  deeds  of  a  holy  life,  which  are  "  the  bread  of  God." 
But,  with  the  allowance  of  such  variety,  it  was  required 
that  the  food  should  always  be  penetrated  with  oil,  to 
show  that  the  producer  of  these  fruits  of  holiness  had 
been  refreshed  and  enlivened  in  his  labor  by  the  Spirit  of 
God.  They  were  also  seasoned  with  salt,  the  symbol 
of  fidelity  to  engagement,  to  pledge  the  sacrificer  to  a 
real  fruitfulness  in  the  good  works  which  his  offering 
represented.  Whatever  kind  of  food  the  sacrificer  chose 
to  bring,  he  must  not  forget  to  accompany  it  with 
frankincense ;  for  no  offering  of  good  works  would  be 
acceptable  to  God  unless  accompanied  with  prayer.  A 
single  handful  of  the  food-offering  was  consumed  by 
fire,  and  the  remainder  was  eaten  by  the  priests,  to  show 
in  this  twofold  manner  Jehovah's  acceptance  of  it.  His 
representatives  actually  ate  of  it  as  food  which  he 
furnished  to  the  officers  of  his  household ;  and  his 
participation  in  the  feast  was  symbolized  by  the  burning 
on  the  altar.  The  frankincense,  however,  in  correspond- 
ence with  its  import,  was  all  burned.     "  Jehovah  might 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  SACRIFICES.         357 

very  well  supply  his  servants,  the  priests,  from  the  food 
which  Israel  offered  to  him  as  the  representative  of  its 
grateful  self- surrender ;  but  incense,  like  the  prayer 
which  it  represented,  belonged  to  himself  alone."  ^ 

As  the  statutes  concerning  drink-offerings  commence 
with  the  words,  "When  ye  be  come  into  the  land,"^ 
and  there  is  no  mention  of  any  drink-offering  actually 
offered  in  the  wilderness,  it  is  reasonable  to  conclude 
that  wine  was  not  a  necessary  accompaniment  of  a 
burnt-offering  till  after  the  settlement  of  the  Hebrews  in 
Canaan.  Being  ^thenceforth  one  of  the  staple  products 
of  their  land,  which  they  constantly  labored  for  and 
enjoyed,  it  was  required  with  the  parched  grains  of 
wheat,  the  fine  flour,  or  the  cakes,  as  an  accompaniment 
to  every  burnt-offering,  and  with  similar  intent ;  namely, 
to  symbolize  the  consecration  of  labor  and  its  fruits. 
Its  reception  on  the  altar  signified  that  Jehovah  had 
pleasure  in  the  results  of  a  consecrated  life. 

Peace-offerings  signified  in  general  that  the  sacrificer 
having  obtained  expiation  of  his  sins,  and  consecrated 
himself  and  his  substance,  was  in  a  state  of  friendship 
with  God.  The  feast  of  fellowship  in  which  they 
terminated  was  at  once  an  expression  of  love,  and  a 
means  of  increasing  it  in  the  human  party  at  the  feast. 

1  Kurtz  :  Sacrificial  Worship  of  the  Old  Testament,  p.  29S. 

2  Lev.  xxiii.  10  ;  Num.  xv.  2.  These  statutes  refer,  it  is  true,  to  food-offerings, 
as  well  as  drink-offerings  ;  but  the  former  had  been  enjoined  by  previous  legislation, 
and  several  instances  in  which  they  were  offered  in  the  wilderness  are  recorded.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  account  for  the  manner  in  which  drink-offerings  are  treated  in 
the  Pentateuch  on  any  hypothesis  which  ascribes  a  later  date  to  these  writings  than 
the  entrance  to  Canaan. 


358  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

The  imposition  of  hands,  the  slaughter,  and  the 
sprinkUng  of  the  blood,  being  performed  in  the  same 
manner  as  in  the  burnt-offering  and  the  trespass-offering, 
and  therefore  with  similar  significance,  need  no  further 
interpretation.  These  ceremonies  of  expiation  being 
completed,  the  disposal  of  the  flesh  was  next  in  order. 
Its  choicest  portions,  namely,  the  fat,  were  burned  on 
the  altar  to  represent  the  self-surrender  of  the  sacrificer ; 
the  breast  was  reserved  for  the  whole  community  of 
priests,  and  the  right  hind-leg  for  the  individual  priest 
who  officiated  ;  the  remainder  was  given  back  to  the 
sacrificer,  that  he  and  his  friends  might  participate  with 
the  household  of  God,  and  with  God  himself,  in  the 
feast  of  friendship.  Jehovah  testified  his  acceptance 
of  the  friendly  gift,  and  his  enjoyment  of  it,  by  allowing 
it  to  be  burned  on  the  altar.  The  priests,  by  their 
personal  participation  in  the  feast  as  his  officers,  and  by 
his  direction,  gave  still  further  demonstration  to  the  same 
effect.  The  permission  to  the  worshipper  to  share  with 
Jehovah  and  his  household  in  eating  the  flesh  which  had 
been  brought  to  the  altar  showed  the  friendly  relation 
subsisting  between  the  parties. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  waving  of  the  breast 
and  the  heaving  of  the  leg  was  a  ceremonial  presenta- 
tion to  Jehovah  of  what  was  to  be  eaten  by  the 
members  of  his  household ;  and  the  ceremony  of  heav- 
ing is  easily  explained,  since  the  Hebrew  word  is  the 
technical  term  for  lifting  upon  the  altar.  The  altar  was 
ideally  a  high  place,  and  whatever  was  offered  was  lifted 
to  the  top  of  it ;  and  so  heaving  a  thing  upward  became 
the  sign  that  it  was  presented  to  Jehovah.  The  mode 
in  which  waving  was  established  as   a  symbol  is  less 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  SACRIFICES.         359 

evident ;  but  perhaps  the  horizontal  movement,  being 
directed  toward  the  tabernacle,  denoted  that  the  gift  was 
thus  presented  to  Jehovah  for  the  use  of  the  sanctuary. 
One  has  only  to  read  the  directions  for  waving  and 
heaving  to  be  convinced  that,  however  these  movements 
acquired  their  significance,  they  signified  presentation 
to  God. 

On  the  question.  Why  was  the  breast  waved,  and 
assigned  to  the  priests  in  general,  whilst  the  leg  was 
heaved,  and  assigned  to  the  officiating  priest  alone } 
Kurtz  ingeniously  remarks,  "  I  know  no  other  way 
of  arriving  at  an  answer  to  this  question  than  that  of 
tracing  the  relation  of  the  breast  as  half-fat  to  the  fat 
of  the  burnt  sacrifice,  and  that  of  the  leg  as  the  best  of 
the  flesh  to  the  flesh  of  the  sacrificial  meal.  As  the 
offerer  of  the  sacrifice  brought  his  whole  family  to 
the  sacrificial  meal,  so  Jehovah  admitted  his  whole  family, 
so  to  speak,  i.  e.,  the  whole  of  the  priests  performing 
service  at  the  time,  to  participate  in  his  enjoyment ;  not, 
indeed,  by  assigning  them  a  portion  of  the  pure  fat, 
which  would  have  been  thoroughly  uneatable,  but  by 
assigning  them  the  nearest  to  it,  viz.,  the  half-fat ; 
and  the  reason  why  this  was  not  heaved,  but  waved 
'before  Jehovah,'  i.  e.,  moved  toward  the  door  of  the 
tabernacle,  and  then  back  again  toward  the  priest,  was 
probably  because  the  service  of  the  priests  in  general 
had  respect  to  God  who  dwelt  within  the  tabernacle. 
And  as  the  wave-breast,  as  half-fat,  was  related  to  the 
meal  provided  for  Jehovah  ("the  bread  of  Jehovah"),  so 
the  heave-leg,  as  the  best  of  the  flesh-meat,  was  related 
to  the  meal  provided  for  the  offerer.  It  was  heaved,  not 
waved,  probably  to  exhibit  its  relation  to  the  altar  upon 


360  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

which  Jehovah's  portion  was  burnt.  Both  of  these  are 
in  perfect  harmony  with  the  fact  that  the  leg  was 
allotted  to  the  officiating  priest  alone  ;  for  lie  alone  per- 
formed the  loving  service  for  the  offerer  of  presenting 
his  gift  to  Jehovah,  and  he  alone  performed  the  service 
at  the  altar  of  sprinkling  the  blood,  and  burning  the 
sacrifice."  ^ 

1  Sacrificial  Worship  of  the  Old  Testament,  p.  278. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  LUSTRATIONS  OF  THE 
TABERNACLE. 

The  significance  of  expiatory  sacrifices  already  ap- 
pears, A  person  who  had  violated  a  law  might  obtain 
an  assurance  of  forgiveness  by  bringing  a  sin-offering ; 
and  those  who  were  not  inwardly  accused  of  any  partic- 
ular transgression  might,  through  the  same  instrumen- 
tality, be  comforted  in  every  approach  to  God  with  a 
token  that  even  the  sins  of  which  they  were  unconscious 
were  blotted  out.  It  is  unnecessary,  therefore,  to  inter 
pret  lustration  as  performed  by  sprinkling  blood :  we 
have  only  to  speak  of  the  removal  of  unclean^iess. 

The  legal  regulations  concerning  defilement,  though 
not  implying  that  the  person  who  had  contracted  it  was 
blameworthy  on  that  account,  were  fitted  to  inculcate  on 
the  people  the  importance  of  holiness  ;  for  the  analogy 
between  physical  cleanliness,  and  purity  of  heart,  is  obvi- 
ous, and  they  well  knew  that  no  unsoundness  of  the 
physique  could  be  more  offensive  to  those  who  lived 
delicately  in  kings'  courts  than  filthiness  of  the  spirit 
was  to  Jehovah.  The  care  enjoined  to  avoid  defilement 
of  the  body,  and  to  remove  it  when  acquired,  was  fitted 
to  educate  them  to  a  high  appreciation  of  inward 
purity,  and  to  the  habit  of  watchfulness  against  sin  as 
31  361 


362  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

odious  to  God.  Outward  cleanness  and  uncleanness 
were  made  to  symbolize  corresponding  conditions  of  the 
heart. 

Moreover,  there  was  a  relation  between  the  defilement 
of  the  flesh  for  which  the  law  provided  lustration,  and 
filthiness  of  spirit  other  than  that  of  analogy ;  for  the 
former,  though  acquired  without  blame  on  the  part  of 
the  unclean  person,  had  its  source  and  cause  in  the 
sinfulness  of  the  race.  A  person  became  legally  unclean 
by  contact  with  offensive  substances  connected  with 
reproduction  and  with  death,  however  slight  the  contact, 
but  incurred  no  legal  disability  on  account  of  a  real 
defilement  of  the  person  by  other  means,  whatever  its 
degree.  Such  discrimination  made  it  evident  that  the 
care  which  the  law  required  of  the  Hebrev/  to  preserve 
ritual  cleanness,  as  a  condition  of  admittance  to  the 
habitation  of  Jehovah,  had  reference  to  something  else 
than  physical  offensiveness.  The  law  was  as  strict 
within  the  sphere  of  its  demands  as  that  which  guarded 
an  Oriental  monarch  from  the  approach  of  the  filthy,  but 
required  exemption  from  such  filths  only  as  were  in 
some  way  connected  with  the  succession  of  individuals 
in  the  life  of  the  race.  Contact  with  the  dead  separated 
one  from  fellowship  with  Jehovah  because  death  was  in 
the  world  by  reason  of  sin.  A  leper  was  unclean,  and 
defiled  those  whom  he  touched,  because  death  had  begun 
its  work  upon  him.  Excretions  from  the  organs  of 
reproduction  in  like  manner  defiled,  and  excluded  from 
the  habitation  of  God,  because  sin  had  brought  a  curse 
upon  the  relation  of  the  sexes.  The  law  of  ritual  defile- 
ment thus  put  a  mark  upon  generation  and  death  as 
connected   with,  and    affected   by   sin,  though    not    in 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  LUSTRATIONS.      363 

themselves  wrong.  It  called  attention  to  them  as  the 
two  points  where  sin  made  its  deepest  scars.  It  taught 
the  defiled  man  that,  even  if  personally  innocent  of 
transgressing  the  law  of  Jehovah,  he  belonged  to  a  race 
suffering  the  consequences  of  sin. 

"  It  was  unquestionably  the  ban  of  death,  which  reigns 
in  the  human  body  as  the  effect  of  sin,  that  stamped  upon 
the  phenomena  apparent  in  the  different  departments  of 
generation,  leprosy,  and  decomposition,  the  character 
of  Levitical  uncleanness.  And  the  obligation  resting  on 
the  Israelites  not,  indeed,  to  preserve  themselves  free 
from  such  uncleanness  (for  that  was  impossible),  but 
whenever  it  occurred  to  purify  themselves,  or  to  seek 
purification  in  a  certain  prescribed  mode,  was  based 
upon'  the  priestly  character  and  consecration  of  the 
people  as  a  covenant  nation  called  to  approach  and  hold 
communion  with  Jehovah,  a  holy  God  who  could  tolerate 
no  uncleanness  that  sprang  from  sin,  but  unfit  to 
approach  him  as  long  as  the  uncleanness  continued."  ^ 

Uncleanness  of  the  kind  first  named  in  the  foregoing 
paragraph  was  ordinarily  of  the  lowest  grade  known  to 
the  law,  requiring  for  its  removal  only  the  application  of 
water,  a  symbol  whose  significance  is  too  obvious  to  need 
interpretation.  Childbirth,  and  disease  in  the  organs  of 
generation,  rendered  necessary  a  longer  lustration,  closing 
with  a  sin-offering.  By  this  addition  of  an  expiatory 
sacrifice,  the  ceremonial  exhibited  not  only  an  unclean- 
ness of  the  individual  in  consequence  of  the  sinfulness 
of  the  race,  but  a  personal  sinfulness  which  needed 
forgiveness.     The  sin-offering  did  not  refer  to  any  sin  in 

1  Kurtz :  Sacrificial  Worship  of  the  Old  Testament,  p.  420. 


364  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

particular ;  but,  the  inconvenience  to  which  the  unclean 
person  was  subjected  in  consequence  of  the  sinfulness  of 
the  race  naturally  awakening  the  consciousness  of  per- 
sonal guilt,  it  was  mercifully  provided  as  a  sacrament 
of  absolution. 

The  uncleanness  caused  by  contact  with  the  dead 
body  of  an  animal  being  removable  by  the  application  of 
water,  the  process  needs  no  interpretation.  The  cere- 
monial by  which  a  person  defiled  by  contact  with  a 
human  corpse  was  cleansed  is  less  transparent,  and  the 
novice  in  symbolism  may  need  aid  in  studying  its  signifi- 
cance. This  defilement  was  removed  by  means  of  the 
"water  of  separation,"  a  mixture  of  pure  water  with 
ashes,  prepared  for  the  purpose  by  a  process  which 
itself  needs  explication. 

Water  not  sufficing  to  remove  a  defilement  so  deep, 
the  ashes  of  a  heifer  which  had  been  slain  as  a  sin- 
offering,  were  mingled  with  it.  A  male  animal  being 
normally  required  for  a  sin-offering,  the  exceptional 
requirement  of  a  heifer  in  this  case  probably  referred 
to  the  peculiar  use  of  the  ashes  as  an  antidote  to  -death, 
the  female  being  eminently  the  life-producing  sex.  In 
other  victims  for  the  altar,  the  color  was  a  matter  of 
indifference ;  but  the  heifer  selected  for  this  purpose 
must  be  red,  for  since  in  man  a  rosy  complexion  is  a 
sign  of  vigorous  vitality,  redness  was  among  the  ancients 
a  symbol  of  life  even  when,  as  in  the  case  of  the  heifer,  fl 
the  external  color  had  no  relation  to  the  vital  force 
within.  The  redness  of  the  cow  was  an  element  in  her 
fitness  to  represent  life,  and  be  an  antidote  to  death. 
With  similar  reference  to  her  fitness  to  stand  as  a  sym- 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  LUSTRATIONS.      365 

bolic  and  sacramental  life-bearer,  it  was  required  that 
she  must  not  only  be  without  defect  or  superfluity,  as  all 
animals  brought  to  the  altar  must,  but  be  of  an  age 
indicating  the  full  vigor  which  belongs  to  maturity 
before  decay  has  commenced,  and  have  been  absolutely 
exempt  from  the  exhaustion  of  labor.  The  animal,  hav- 
ing been  slain,  became  an  expiation  by  the  sprinkling  of 
its  blood  seven  times  toward  the  sanctuary  ;  and  its  ashes 
thereby  acquired  a  cleansing  efficacy  to  take  away 
uncleanness  as  its  blood  had  taken  away  sin.  It  was 
slain  not  only  outside  of  the  sanctuary,  but  outside  of 
the  camp,  because  lustration  was  the  chief  end  for 
which  it  was  slain.  The  tabernacle  was  the  normal 
place  for  a  sin-offering ;  but  all  rites  of  purification,  being 
designed  for  those  who  could  not  enter  the  sanctuary, 
were  performed  elsewhere ;  and,  as  the  deepest  kinds  of 
uncleanness  excluded  even  from  the  camp,  so  the  most 
thorough  lustrations  were  significantly  commenced  afar 
off  from  the  holy  habitation  of  Jehovah,  and  beyond  the 
dwellings  of  his  people.  The  high-priest,  who  by  rule 
should  present  the  sin-offering  of  the  whole  congrega- 
tion, could  not  officiate  because  by  so  doing  he  would 
put  himself  into  rapport  with  death  and  its  uncleanness, 
from  which,  as  the  head  of  the  holy  nation,  he  must  be 
separate ;  and  therefore,  as  the  ceremony  was  too  impor- 
tant to  be  performed  by  an  ordinary  priest,  his  son  or 
successor  must  officiate  in  his  stead.  The  burning  of 
the  animal  in  its  entirety,  there  being  no  other  exception 
than  the  small  quantity  of  blood  which  had  been  sprin- 
kled toward  the  sanctuary,  indicated  that  in  the  pleni- 
tude of  its  vitality  it  was  wholly  given  up  to  be  made  an 
antidote  to  death,  and  a  means  of  purifying  those  who 
31* 


366  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

by  contact  therewith  had  become  defiled.  The  cedar- 
wood,  the  coccus-wool,  and  the  hyssop,  thrown  into  the 
fire  which  consumed  the  heifer,  intensified  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  transaction.  The  first  two  as  symbols  of  life, 
and  the  third  as  expressive  of  purification,  contributed 
to  the  power  of  the  residuary  ashes  to  purify  from 
the  defilement  connected  with  death.  The  unclean- 
ness  contracted  by  the  priest  who  officiated,  by  the 
person  who  burned  the  heifer,  and  by  the  person 
who  gathered  up  the  ashes,  resulted  from  the  position 
they  had  assumed  of  connection  with  death  in  order  to 
provide  for  the  whole  people  means  of  purification.  By 
going  out  of  the  place  of  life  to  prepare,  for  those  who 
were  excluded  therefrom  by  contact  with  death,  the 
means  of  re-admission,  they  had  themselves  contracted 
a  degree  of  defilement,  but  only  such  as  yielded  to  the 
application  of  water. 

The  ashes  thus  prepared,  when  mingled  with  pure 
water,  greatly  increased  the  significance  of  the  latter 
as  a  symbol  of  purification,  and  indicated  the  specific 
nature  of  the  defilement  for  which  the  mixture  was  an 
antidote.  The  life-power  represented  by  the  heifer,  the 
cedar-wood,  and  the  coccus-wool,  showed  that  the 
uncleanness  to  be  removed  was  connected  with  and 
occasioned  by  death.  The  sprinkling  of  the  mixture 
upon  the  defiled  person  was  a  sign  that  by  contact 
with  this  "  water  of  separation "  he  was  cleansed  from 
his  defilement.  It  was  not  without  meaning  that  the 
sprinkling  was  performed  with  a  spray  of  hyssop,  or  that 
the  clean  person  by  whom  the  lustration  was  performed 
became,  in  consequence  of  such  service,  unclean  for  the 
remainder  of  the  day.     Hyssop  was  itself  an  emphatic 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  LUSTRATIONS.       367 

symbol  of  purification  ;  and  the  temporary  defilement  of 
the  purifier  illustrated  the  intensity  of  the  uncleanness 
which  his  benevolent  errand  obliged  him  to  approach. 

The  lustration  of  a  leper  commenced  outside  of  the 
camp,  and  was  designed  in  its  first  stages  to  effect  his  admis- 
sion within  the  camp,  but  not  within  the  sanctuary.  The 
use  of  two  birds  naturally  suggests  an  analogy  between 
this  ceremonial,  and  that  of  the  day  of  atonement,  which 
required  two  goats,  —  one  to  be  slain,  and  the  other  to  be 
set  at  liberty.  There  is  doubtless  some  analogy  between 
the  two  ceremonials,  but  this  important  difference 
deserves  attention  ;  namely,  that,  while  the  blood  of  the 
slain  goat  was  sprinkled  to  make  atonement,  there  is  no 
evidence  that  the  bird  was  propitiatory.  It  seems  rather 
to  have  been  slain  for  the  sake  of  obtaining  its  blood  as 
a  symbol  of  life.  Cedar-wood  and  coccus-wool  were 
added  to  it  as  parallel  and  cumulative  symbols.  Water 
and  hyssop,  both  expressive  of  purification,  completed 
the  mixture  ;  and  the  requirement  of  living,  or  running 
water,  in  distinction  from  that  which  had  been  bottled,  or 
taken  from  a  cistern,  added  emphasis  to  the  ceremony. 
The  live  bird  was  dipped  in  this  mixture  of  signs  of 
purification  and  life,  to  represent  the  restored  leper  in 
his  passage  from  his  recent  condition  of  disease  to 
health,  and  was  set  at  liberty  to  continue  the  represen- 
tation of  him  as  escaping  from  restraint,  and  returning 
to  the  scenes  and  the  society  he  had  enjoyed  before  his 
misfortune.  The  application  of  the  same  mixture  to  the 
leper  himself  also  implied  that  he  had  passed  from 
disease  and  impurity  to  health,  and  fitness  to  associate 
with  the  uncontaminated  ;  while  its  sevenfold  repetition 


368  SIGNIFICANCE   6F  THE    TABERNACLE. 

signified  restoration  to  the  privileges  of  the  covehant 
between  Jehovah  and  his  people.  The  purification  of 
his  person  by  the  washing  of  his  body,  the  removal 
of  all  his  hair,  and  the  washing  of  his  clothes,  with  which 
this  act  of  the  ceremonial  ended,  completed  the  repre- 
sentation of  a  man  risen  from  the  imcleanness  of  death 
to  a  new  life. 

The  washing  and  shaving  with  which  the  first  act  of 
the  ceremonial  ended,  when  repeated  on  the  seventh  day 
as  the  commencement  of  the  second  part  of  the  lustration, 
had  obviously  the  same  significance  as  before,  and  served 
to  deepen  the  impression  already  made  in  regard  to 
the  offensiveness  of  leprosy.  Of  the  ceremonies  of  the 
eighth  day,  the  most  important  by  far  were  those 
connected  with  the  trespass-offering.  If  it  is  asked. 
Why  was  a  trespass-offering  required  from  a  restored 
leper .-'  the  answer  doubtless  is,  that  his  absence  from 
the  sanctuary  and  from  the  camp  was,  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  covenant,  a  withholding  from  Jehovah  of 
the  service  due  to  him  as  the  national  King  and  God. 
Though  involuntary  on  the  part  of  the  leper,  it  was  a 
trespass  on  the  rights  of  Jehovah,  whose  claim  to  the 
service  of  his  people  was  not  annulled  by  any  inability 
to  render  it  resulting  from  sin.  Without  blame  on 
his  part,  he  had  been  robbed  of  the  service  of  one  of  his 
subjects  :  consequently  that  species  of  sacrifice  which 
atoned  for  an  infringement  on  the  rights  of  property 
was  necessary  to  effect  the  restoration  of  the  leper, 
The  payment  of  the  debt,  with  the  addition  of  a  fifth,  as 
the  law  required  in  cases  where  the  obligation  could  be 
estimated  in  money,  was  impossible,  and  therefore  not 
mentioned;   but   in   all   other  respects   the  ceremonial 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  LUSTRATIONS.       369 

proceeded  as  if  the  leper  had  committed  a  trespass.  The 
trespass-offering  was  so  much  more  important  than  the 
other  sacrifices,  that,  while  doves  might  be  substituted  for 
lambs  in  the  sin-offering  and  the  burnt-offering,  if  the 
leper  was  a  poor  man,  there  could  be  no  abatement  in 
the  requirement  of  a  male  lamb  for  a  trespass-offering. 
The  re-consecration  of  the  man  to  the  service  of 
Jehovah,  by  means  of  the  blood  of  the  trespass-offering, 
showed  that  he  was  accepted  notwithstanding  his  trespass ; 
and  the  application  of  it  to  the  tip  of  his  right  ear, 
the  thumb  of  his  right  hand,  and  the  great  toe  of  his 
right  foot,  signified,  as  in  the  similar  consecration  of  the 
priests,  the  sanctification  of  the  whole  body  of  which 
these  were  the  parts  principally  concerned,  and  of  the 
whole  being  of  which  these  were  the  chief  factors. 
Some  of  the  oil  which  had  been  waved  with  the  lamb  of 
the  trespass-offering,  and  thus  had  become  the  property 
of  Jehovah,  was  similarly  applied  to  the  ear,  the  thumb, 
and  the  toe,  and  the  remainder  poured  upon  the  head, 
as  a  sign  that  the  Spirit  of  God  was  imparted  to 
the  restored  leper  to  enliven  and  strengthen  him  for  the 
service  to  which  he  was  sanctified.  But,  before  the  oil 
was  thus  used  for  anointing,  some  of  it  was  sprinkled 
toward  the  sanctuary  as  a  sign  that  the  enlivening 
influence  thus  represented  enabled  the  recipient  of  it 
acceptably  to  approach  Jehovah  in  his  sanctuary.  The 
ceremonial  being  coincident  with  that  which  set  apart 
the  priesthood  in  its  use  of  blood  and  oil,  and  in  the 
application  of  them  to  the  ear,  the  thumb,  and  the  toe, 
and  different  from  it  only  in  the  application  of  them 
separately  instead  of  jointly,  cannot  be  very  different  in 
its  significance.     The  similarity  both  in  the  forms  and 


370  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

in  their  significance  is  to  be  accounted  for  on  the  ground 
that,  Israel  being  a  kingdom  of  priests,  the  leper  by 
these  rites  of  lustration  was  restored  to  a  sacerdotal 
status.  To  the  objection  that  the  people  were  conse- 
crated at  Sinai  with  blood  only,  it  may  be  replied  that 
they  were  already  the  people  of  Jehovah,  and  had  been  in 
covenant  with  him  from  the  time  of  Abraham  ;  while  the 
leper,  exscinded  from  the  covenant  people,  and  forbidden 
to  enter  the  camp,  was  farther  from  Jehovah  than  the 
Hebrews  were  previous  to  the  covenant  at  Sinai.  The 
sin-offering  and  holocaust  with  which  the  ceremonial 
ended  require  no  interpretation,  as  they  were  performed 
in  the  usual  manner,  and  conveyed  the  same  significance 
as  on  other  occasions,  A  word,  however,  may  be  useful, 
accounting  for  the  requirement  of  a  sin-offering  as  part 
of  the  ceremonial.  A  sin-offering  was  ordinarily  a 
voluntary  sacrifice  brought  by  one  who  was  conscious  of 
sin.  But,  even  if  no  consciousness  of  transgression  had 
sprung  up  in  the  soul  during  the  long  absence  from  the 
sanctuary,  it  must  at  least  be  true  that  the  leper  might 
have  sinned  ;  and,  as  there  were  stated  sin-offerings  for 
the  whole  people  to  cover  such  possibilities,  so,  analo- 
gously, this  propitiatory  sacrifice  was  appointed  for  the 
leper  at  his  restoration,  that  he  might  re-enter  into 
the  fellowship  of  the  covenant  with  an  assurance  that  the 
sins  he  had  committed  during  his  exclusion,  whether 
they  had  revealed  themselves  to  his  consciousness,  or 
not,  were  blotted  out.  The  propriety  of  a  sacrifice  of 
dedication,  as  part  of  such  a  ceremonial,  is  obvious. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  CALENDAR  OF  THE 
TABERNACLE. 

A  PROMINENT  feature  in  the  Hebrew  calendar  of 
worship  is  the  dominance  of  seven.  Every  seventh  day 
was  set  apart  from  labor  as  a  time  of  rest  and  holy 
convocation.  Every  seventh  year  the  land  rested  from 
tillage  :  at  the  end  of  seven  of  these  periods  of  seven 
years,  the  land  rested  a  second  year,  and  was  restored  to 
the  family  to  which  it  originally  belonged,  whatever 
changes  of  tenure  might  have  taken  place  during  the 
cycle.  There  were  seven  days  of  rest  and  holy  convo- 
cation during  the  year,  in  addition  to  those  which 
occurred  weekly.  The  seventh  month  of  the  year  was 
ushered  in  with  the  sound  of  trumpets,  proceeding  first 
from  the  sanctuary,  and  immediately  propagated  through 
the  land  ;  and  its  first  day  was  one  of  the  seven  annually 
recurring  sabbaths.  It  was  also  signalized  by  the  assign- 
ment to  it  of  those  festivals  which  were  not  bound  to 
some  other  time  of  the  year  by  historical  association  or 
natural  fitness  ;  the  day  of  atonement,  the  festival  of 
tabernacles,  and  the  day  of  rest  and  convocation,  which 
closed  not  only  this  particular  festival,  but  all  the 
annually  recurring  solemnities  of  the  year,  being  included 

371 


372  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

in  the  seventh  or  sabbatical  month.  The  passover,  and 
■the  festival  of  tabernacles,  occupied  each  seven  days  ; 
and  this  was  the  limit  of  all  solemnities  which  lasted 
more  than  one  day. 

The  observance  of  the  seventh  day  of  the  week  is 
expressly  connected  in  the  decalogue  with  the  work  of 
God  in  creating  the  world ;  and  the  number  seven 
whenever  it  determined  the  length  of  festivals,  or  the 
time  of  their  occurrence,  as  in  the  instances  cited  above, 
conveyed,  to  one  versed  in  Hebrew  symbolism,  thoughts 
of  the  union  of  the  infinite  with  the  finite,  of  the  divine 
with  the  human,  of  Jehovah  with  his  people. 

The  daily  service  was  a  constant  recognition  of 
Jehovah  as  their  God  by  the  priestly  nation,  and,  on  his 
part,  of  them  as  his  people.  The  morning  and  evening 
holocausts  were  a  perpetual  profession  by  them  that 
they  gave  themselves,  and  the  fruits  of  righteousness 
which  they  brought  forth  with  the  aid  of  his  Spirit,  to 
Him  on  whose  altar  they  placed  the  lamb  with  its 
appointed  accompaniment  of  flour,  wine,  incense,  salt, 
and  oil.  The  reception  of  the  sacrifice  on  the  altar  by 
the  officers  of  his  household  was  an  assurance  from 
Jehovah  that  he  accepted  with  pleasure  the  spiritual 
sacrifice  of  which  it  was  the  sign.  The  reservation  of  a 
part  of  the  food-offering,  to  be  eaten  by  the  priests  as 
"  the  bread,  of  their  God,"  served  to  show  his  fellowship 
with  his  people  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  sanctifica- 
tion. 

The  service  within  the  habitation  exhibited  the  state 
of  God's  people  as  redeemed,  justified,  and  received  to 
communion  with  him  by  faith.     The  table  showed  the 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE   CALENDAR.  373 

fruits  of  righteousness,  the  chandelier  the  Hght  they 
diffused,  the  altar  of  incense  their  offerings  of  prayer 
and  praise.  In  the  exhibition  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in 
this  its  second  stage,  it  was  not  necessary  to  symbolize 
propitiation  by  the  sprinkling  of  blood,  or  self-surrender 
by  the  offering  of  an  animal ;  since  these  first  steps  in 
the  way  of  life  were  presupposed  by  the  presence  in  this 
place  of  the  people  through  their  representatives.  The 
symbols  of  the  first  chamber  of  the  tabernacle  were 
designed  rather  to  exhibit  the  results  of  propitiation  and 
self-surrender  in  the  holy  lives  of  God's  people.  They 
are  the  same  symbols  which  in  the  court  accompany, 
and  are  subsidiary  to,  the  bleeding  sacrifice ;  but  here  they 
present  in  full  development  an  idea  which  there  was 
exhibited  only  in  germ.  The  corn,  wine,  oil,  and 
incense,  which  in  the  court  were  offered  on  the  same 
altar,  are  here  offered  on  three  several  altars,  as  if  the 
bud  had  swelled  and  opened  into  a  blossom  of  three 
petals.  The  food-offering  has  not  only  been  raised  from 
a  subsidiary  to  an  independent  position,  but  is  divided 
into  three  distinct  sacrifices.  By  this  expansion  of  the 
symbolism,  it  became  richer  in  its  significance,  and  more 
instructive.  The  symbols,  moreover,  were  not  only 
separated  one  from  another,  but  were  of  finer  quality 
than  was  required  in  the  court ;  since  the  corn  which 
there  was  presented  as  flour  was  here  made  into  cakes, 
the  oil  must  be  the  purest  that  could  be  obtained,  the 
incense  was  a  compound  of  that  ordinarily  used  with 
other  most  precious  spices,  according  to  a  recipe  used 
for  this  purpose  exclusively.  Thus  expanded  and 
honored,  the  symbolism  of  the  food-offering  exhibited 
the  people  of  God  worshipping  and  serving  him  in  his 
32 


374  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

temple  day  and  night  continually,  and  him  as  feasting 
on  the  fruits  of  their  sanctification,  rejoicing  in  the  light 
they  diffused,  and  pleased  with  their  worship,  as  if  they 
had  filled  his  house  with  the  finest  perfume. 

The  observance  of  every  seventh  day  by  the  Hebrews, 
whether  first  established  at  Sinai,  or  received  by  tradi- 
tion from  their  fathers,  was  a  memorial  of  the  creation 
of  the  world  by  Jehovah.  But  the  Mosaic  narrative  of 
the  creation,  fairly  interpreted,  implies  that  the  week  as 
a  division  of  time  was  instituted  at  the  beginning  of 
human  history,  and  that  every  seventh  day  was  from  the 
first  celebrated  with  the  same  intent  as  is  ascribed  to 
the  weekly  sabbath  in  the  fourth  commandment.  The 
Mosaic  law,  in  giving  its  sanction  to  an  institution  already 
existing,  prescribed  the  manner  in  which  it  should  be 
observed,  —  namely,  by  abstinence  from  labor,  a  holy  con- 
vocation, the  duplication  of  the  two  daily  sacrifices,  and 
the  renewal  of  the  show-bread,  —  but  in  no  way  changed 
its  significance.  In  whatever  mode  the  monotheists 
of  preceding  centuries  had  hallowed  the  day,  whether 
by  abstinence  from  labor,  or  by  sacrifice,  or  both,  they 
observed  it  as  a  memorial  of  God's  work  of  creation. 
This  memorial  observance  of  the  seventh  day  from  the 
beginning  may  have  occasioned  the  hebdomadal  division 
of  time  which  we  find  in  the  earliest  nations,  and  may 
have  originated  the  speculations  on  number  which 
before  the  time  of  Abraham  had  established  seven  as 
the  numerical  symbol  of  transactions  between  the  Crea- 
tor and  the  creature.  The  sabbath  was  therefore  a  sign 
to  the  Hebrews  primarily  of  the  first  transaction  between 
the  two  parties    to  which,    in  common    with    the   rest 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE   CALENDAR.  375 

of  the  ancient  world,  they  applied  three  and  four  as 
numerical  symbols.  But,  by  means  of  their  symbolism, 
it  put  on  a  wider  meaning,  so  as  to  cover  with  its  sug- 
gestiveness  the  whole  field  in  which  the  Creator  and  the 
creature  are  brought  together.  The  observance  of  it 
was  an  acknowledgment  of  Jehovah  in  his  relations  to 
the  universe  in  general,  and  in  the  special  relations  he 
sustained  to  their  nation  ;  the  desecration  of  it  was  a 
breach  of  their  engagement  that  he  should  be  their  God, 
and  that  they  would  be  his  people,  as  well  as  a  denial  of 
him  as  the  Creator. 

As  a  month  was  with  the  Hebrews  a  natural  division 
of  time  as  truly  as  a  day,  a  ceremonial  was  provided  for 
the  new  moon,  as  well  as  for  the  rising  and  the  setting 
sun.  On  the  first  day  of  the  month,  a  sin-offering  was 
presented  for  the  whole  congregation,  developing  more 
fully,  and  making  more  prominent,  the  ideas  of  sin  and 
forgiveness  expressed  by  the  daily  sprinkling  of  blood ; 
a  large  addition  was  made  to  the  daily  burnt-offering,  to 
show  forth  with  an  impressiveness  commensurate  with 
the  importance  of  a  month  as  compared  with  a  day  the 
same  ideas  which  were  conveyed  by  "  the  continual 
burnt-offering;"  and  the  silver  trumpets  were  blown  by 
the  priests  in  the  tabernacle  to  remind  Jehovah  of  his 
people.^  As  the  seventh  day  was  honored  above  other 
days,  so  was  the  seventh  month  above  other  months  ;  a 
sabbatical  character  being  communicated  to  it  by  the 
day  of  rest  and  convocation  with  which  it  was  intro- 
duced, the  day  of  atonement,  the  festival  of  tabernacles, 
and  the  atzereth,  or  day  of  rest  and  convocation,  which 

1  Num.  X.  9,  10. 


376  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

brought  the  festivals  of  the  year  to  a  formal  conclusion. 
The  seven  which  marked  its  place  in  the  calendar  sanc- 
tified it  as  a  remembrancer  of  God  in  his  relation  to  the 
world  and  its  inhabitants,  and  especially  to  his  kingdom 
on  earth  and  the  people  of  his  covenant. 

The  festival  of  the  passover  commemorated  the  deliv- 
erance from  Egypt. 

At  its  first  institution  it  was  prescribed  that  the  pas- 
chal lamb  should  be  selected  on  the  tenth  day  of  the 
month,  or  four  days  before,  it  was  slaughtered  ;  but,  as 
this  requirement  was  not  incorporated  into  the  statutes 
concerning  its  perpetual  observance,  the  significance 
of  four  was  not  relatively  of  great  importance.  That 
which  it  signified  might,  however,  have  been  of  greater 
value  to  the  generation  which  came  out  of  Egypt  than 
to  their  posterity ;  and  this  consideration  favors  the 
belief  that  whereas  the  lamb  was  to  be  selected  before- 
hand in  order  that  the  people  by  the  sight  of  it  might 
be  better  prepared  for  the  celebration  of  the  symbolic 
rites,  the  period  of  waiting  was  determined  by  four 
rather  than  by  some  other  number  with  reference  to  the 
time  the  Hebrews  had  spent  in  Egypt.  It  had  been 
announced  to  Abraham  that  his  posterity  would  be 
enslaved  in  a  strange  land,  and  after  serving  their 
oppressors  four  centuries,  or"  generations,^  would  expe- 
rience a  great  deliverance,  and  return  to  Canaan.  If 
this  announcement  had  been  transmitted  from  father  to 
son,  the  limitation  of  the  days  of  waiting  to  four  would 
have  great  pertinence,  and  incite  the  people  to  prayer 
and  expectation.     The  length  of  the  bondage  was  of  less 

1  Gen.  XV.  13,  16. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  CALENDAR.  377 

concern  to  subsequent  generations,  and  was  not  exhibited 
in  the  symboHsm  with  which  the  deliverance  was  to  be 
celebrated  in  the  promised  land.^ 

The  sacrifice  of  the  paschal  lamb  was  so  peculiar  in 
its  ceremonial  that  one  hesitates  to  class  it  under  any  of 
the  four  species  of  animal  sacrifice.  It  bears  most 
resemblance  to  the  peace-offerings,  but  is  perhaps  best 
disposed  of  if  regarded  as  belonging  to  a  species  of 
which  Mosaism  furnished  only  this  one  specimen.  It 
differed  from  all  the  other  animal  sacrifices  in  not  being 
brought  to  the  altar,  and  in  the  omission  of  blood- 
sprinkling.  These  differences,  if  they  existed  only  in 
regard  to  the  celebration  of  the  passover  in  Egypt, 
might  be  accounted  for  on  the  ground  that  there  was 
then  no  national  sanctuary  toward  which  the  blood  could 
be  sprinkled,  and  no  national  altar  on  the  north  side  of 
which  the  lamb  could  be  slain  ;  but  the  same  differences 
obtained  in  Canaan  as  in  Egypt.  The  sacrifice  must  be 
offered  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  sanctuary ;  ^  but  there 
is  no  evidence  that  it  was  brought  within  the  sacred 
enclosure,  and  the  number  of  such  sacrifices  to  be 
offered  in  a  single  evening  utterly  forbids  the  supposi- 

1  A  different  significance  has  here  been  attributed  to  four  from  that  which  it 
ordinarily  conveyed  in  ancient  symbolism.  Four  is  primarily  the  signature  of  the 
world  reduced  to  order,  and  secondarily  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the  world  ;  but, 
as  a  word  may  be  used  in  several  meanings  having  no  apparent  connection  one 
with  another,  may  not  a  similar  experience  have  happened  to  symbols  ?  We  use 
the  word  spr'mg  to  signify  a  leap,  a?i  issue  of  wafer  from  the  earth,  an  elastic  body, 
or  a  season  of  the  year :  is  it  not  possible  that  further  induction  would  show  that 
four  has  other  symbolic  power  than  that  of  suggesting  an  organized  creation  ?  In 
no  other  instance  has  the  writer  of  this  volume  ventured  to  deviate  from  the  induc- 
tive method  of  determining  the  meaning  of  a  symbol.  If  he  has  erred  in  this 
instance,  the  exception  may  perhaps  serve  to  establish  more  firmly  in  the  mind  of 
the  reader  the  principle  that  only  one  meaning  is  to  be  allowed  to  a  symbol. 

2  Deut.  xvi.  6. 

32* 


378  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

tion.  Notwithstanding  these  pecuHarities,  however,  the 
paschal  lamb  was  truly  a  sacrifice,  being  so  styled  in 
the  Mosaic  law,^  and  so  regarded  by  the  apostle  Paul.^ 

But,  if  its  death  was  sacrificial,  its  blood  was  expiatory 
like  that  of  all  animal  offerings ;  and  the  subsequent 
meal  was  a  feast  of  fellowship  with  Jehovah  like  those 
which  followed  peace-offerings,  such  a  privilege  having 
been  secured  by  means  of  the  expiation.  This  sacrifice, 
■  however,  as  compared  with  a  peace-offering,  left  expiation 
in  the  background,  and  made  fellowship  prominent. 
The  supper  exhibited  the  celebrants  as  belonging  to  the 
family  of  God,  and  feeding  at  his  table.  It  was  a  pledge, 
at  the  first  celebration,  that  Jehovah  would  protect  and 
provide  for  those  whom  he  called  out  of  Egypt :  it  was  a 
memorial,  when  celebrated  in  Canaan  by  their  descend- 
ants, that  with  a  strong  hand  and  an  outstretched  arm  he 
did  deliver  those  who  ate  the  first  passover  supper. 

The  lamb  must  be  placed  on  the  table  whole,  no  bone 
being  broken,  and  no  part  being  cut  away  in  the  process 
of  preparation,  to  exhibit  more  perfectly  the  oneness  of 
the  partakers  with  each  other,  and  with  the  divine 
Deliverer.  By  eating  together  the  unbroken  and 
undivided  lamb,  they  were,  in  the  significance  of  the 
symbolic  act,  one,  as  the  morsels  of  food  placed  before 
them  formed  one  body.  The  same  symbolic  significance 
is  attributed  by  the  apostle  Paul  to  the  Lord's  Supper 
when  he  says,  "  The  bread  which  we  break,  is  it  not  the 
communion  of  the  body  of  Christ  .-*  For  we  being 
many  are  one  bread,  and  one  body :  for  we  are  all 
partakers  of  that  one  bread!'  ^  Not  only  must  the  lamb 
be   placed   on   the    table    whole,    but    no    part    might 

1  Deut.  xvi.  6.  '^  \  Cor.  v.  7.  81  Cor.  x.  16, 17. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE   CALENDAR.  379 

afterward  be  carried  to  another  house,  the  symboKc 
significance  of  its  integrity  requiring  that  it  should  be 
eaten  in  one  place.  It  was  also  important  that,  as  nearly 
as  possible,  it  should  be  entirely  consumed ;  and,  with 
this  in  view,  the  direction  was  given,  that,  if  one  family 
was  too  small  to  eat  the  whole  of  a  lamb,  two  or  more 
families  should  unite  in  the  paschal  supper.  Whatever 
portion  remained  was  to  be  burned,  that  the  flesh  might 
neither  see  corruption,  nor  be  used  as  common  food. 
This  disposal  of  the  remnant  of  the  feast,  as  all  sacrificial 
flesh  was  disposed  of  which  could  not  be  eaten,  showed 
that  the  supper  was  not  a  common  repast,  but  a  sacri- 
ficial meal,  and  that  the  fellowship  into  which  the 
partakers  were  brought  as  members  of  one  body  was  a 
holy  fellowship.  The  equipment  of  the  celebrants  for 
travel,  and  the  haste  with  which  they  ate,  as  if  intending 
a  journey,  and  wishing  to  be  on  the  way  as  soon  as 
possible,  referred  to  the  condition  of  the  Hebrews  on  the 
memorable  night .  when  the  paschal  supper  was  first 
eaten.  The  bitter  vegetables  which  accompanied  the 
roast  lamb  at  the  paschal  supper  referred  probably  to 
the  bitterness  of  the  bondage  from  which  the  Hebrews 
were  delivered.  It  is  recorded  in  the  national  history 
that  "the  Egyptians  made  the  children  of  Israel  to 
serve  with  rigor,  and  made  their  lives  bitter  with  hard 
bondage  ;  "  ^  and  this  element  was  introduced  into  the 
symbolism  of  the  paschal  supper  to  connect,  in  the  re- 
membrance of  the  celebrants,  the  suffering  with  the 
deliverance.  By  as  much  as  the  former  was  made  to 
appear  more  bitter,  was  the  latter  more  highly  appre- 
ciated. 

1  Exod.  i.  13,  14. 


380  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

The  unleavened  bread  which  not  only  accompanied  the 
paschal  lamb,  but  was  the  only  bread  allowed  during 
the  seven  days  following  the  supper,  symbolized  the  state 
of  moral  uncorruptness  to  which  the  Hebrews  were  called 
by  their  divine  Deliverer.  Leaven  was  the  symbol  of 
corruption,  and  thence  of  moral  impurity,  and  for  this 
reason  was  excluded  from  food-offerings  to  Jehovah. 
The  only  exceptions  were,  that  when  the  two  loaves 
were  presented  on  the  day  of  pentecost,  as  the  first- 
fruits  of  bread,  they  must  be  baked  as  at  other  times  with 
leaven,  it  being  so  important  that  the  offering  should  be 
made  in  kind,  and  thus  truly  consist  of  the  first-fruits, 
that  the  symbolism  of  leaven  was  disregarded ;  and  that 
when  a  man  brought  a  peace-offering,  as  an  expression 
of  gratitude  for  a  favor  already  received,  he  must  bring 
leavened  bread  with  the  pastry  of  his  thank-offering.^ 
The  leaven  in  these  anomalous  instances  was  less  objec- 
tionable, as  no  part  of  the  bread  was  laid  on  the  altar,  but 
all  of  it  was  either  for  the  priest,  or  for  the  festal  board 
to  which  the  offerer  invited  his  friends.  Because  leaven 
was  a  symbol  of  moral  impurity,  the  absence  of  it  was 
'required  during  the  festival  which  commemorated  the 
calling  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt  to  be  a  holy  nation.  That 
such  was  the  significance  of  the  banishment  of  leaven 
not  merely  from  the  tables,  but  from  the  houses,  of  the 
Hebrews  during  "the  days  of  unleavened  bread,"  is  evi- 
dent both  from  the  similar  use  of  the  symbol  in  other 
parts  of  the  Mosaic  institutions,  and  from  the  allusion  of 
the  apostle  Paul  when  he  says,  "  For  even  Christ  our 
passover  is  sacrificed  for  us  :  therefore  let  us  keep  the 
feast,  not  with  old  leaven,  neither  with   the  leaven  of 

1  I.,ev.  xxiii.  17,  vii.  13. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE   CALENDAR.         381 

malice  and  wickedness,  but  with  the  unleavened  bread 
of  sincerity  and  truth."  ^  But,  though  leaven  was  sym- 
bolic of  wickedness,  it  was  also  a  very  useful  ingredient 
in  bread,  rendering  it  much  more  palatable  than  unleav- 
ened bread,  unless  the  latter  was  prepared  with  oil  as 
in  the  food-offerings  to  Jehovah.  As  no  mention  is 
made  of  oil  in  connection  with  the  unleavened  bread  to 
be  used  during  the  week  following  the  passover,  we  may 
infer  that  no  such  substitute  for  leaven  was  allowed,  and 
that  the  bread  was  less  palatable  than  that  which  they 
ordinarily  ate.  Thus  we  may  account  for  the  facts  that 
it  is  called  "  the  bread  of  affliction,"  ^  and  mentioned  in 
connection  with  the  flight  from  Egypt,  as  if  it  commem- 
orated a  time  of  trouble.^  These  facts  have  led  some 
interpreters  to  infer  that  the  Hebrews  who  fled  from 
Egypt  were  directed  to  use  unleavened  bread  during 
their  flight,  on  account  of  the  haste  and  tribulation 
which  prevented  the  preparation  of  more  palatable 
bread,  and  that  the  requirement  of  unleavened  bread  in 
the  subsequent  annual  celebrations  was  primarily  a 
reminder  of  the  haste  with  which  the  fathers  fled.  It 
may  be  true  that  the  absence  of  both  leaven  and  oil  was 
thus  intended,  but  the  mere  prohibition  of  leaven  cannot 
be  thus  understood  ;  for  surely  bread  of  affliction  and  of 
haste  would  not  have  been  required  or  even  allowed  as  a 
food-offering  for  Jehovah.  We  must  give  to  the  absence 
of  leaven  the  same  significance  in  the  unleavened  bread 
of  the  passover  as  in  the  food-offerings  of  the  court,  and 
the  show-bread  within  the  tabernacle. 

The  sheaf  of  barley  waved  on  the  second  day  of  the 
passover-week,  and  thus  presented  to  Jehovah  for  the  use 

1  I  Cor.  V.  7,  8.  2  Deut.  xvi.  3.  8  ibid. 


382  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

of  the  priests,  was  the  earnest  of  the  cereal  harvest, 
and  was  rendered  acceptable  by  an  accompanying 
burnt-offering  which,  as  a  symbol  of  expiation  and  self- 
consecration,  formed  a  basis  for  such  a  presentation  of 
first-fruits.  There  was  no  peace-offering  because,  as  the 
harvest  had  not  yet  been  gathered,  it  was  proper  to  hold 
in  abeyance  the  sacrifices  of  thanksgiving.  It  is,  how- 
ever, worthy  of  notice  that  the  particular  reference  of 
the  ceremonial  to  the  approaching  harvest  of  cereals 
was  indicated  by  the  requirement  of  twice  the  quantity 
of  flour  usually  offered  with  such  a  holocaust,  while  the 
drink-offering  was  not  increased  because  there  was  no 
special  reference  to  the  vintage. 

The  occasional  sacrifices  which  signalized  each  of  the 
seven  "days  of  unleavened  bread  "were  greater  than 
those  of  a  weekly  sabbath,  equivalent  to  those  ordinarily 
offered  at  the  appearance  of  a  new  moon,  and  exceeded 
only  by  those  of  the  seventh  new  moon,  the  day  of '  pen- 
tecost,  and  the  festival  of  tabernacles.  No  other  week, 
therefore,  during  the  year,  except  the  week  of  rejoicing 
over  the  autumnal  harvest,  presented  in  its  sacrifices 
such  calls  to  self-dedication  as  the  week  following  the 
paschal  supper ;  and  there  were  but  few  single  days  in 
the  calendar  which  inculcated  the  duty  with  a  ceremo- 
nial as  impressive  as  that  which  during  this  festival  was 
repeated  daily  for  seven  days.  There  were  important 
reasons  in  the  symbolic  significance  of  seven  why  that 
number  should  determine  the  duration  of  the  days  of 
unleavened  bread."  The  deliverance  from  Egypt  was  a 
transaction  of  Jehovah  with  the  people  of  his  covenant, 
eminently  deserving  to  be  indicated  as  such  since  he 
brought   them    out   with   a   strong   hand   and   an   out- 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE   CALENDAR.         383 

Stretched  arm,  achieving  their   salvation   by  wonderful 
interferences  with  the  natural  course  of  events. 

The  festival  of  pentecost  was  not  historically  com 
memorative  like  that  of  the  passover,  but  had  its  basis  in 
the  fact  that  the  cereal  harvest  was  now  gathered  ;  as  is 
evident  from  the  distinguishing  ceremony  of  the  day, 
namely,  the  presentation  to  Jehovah,  by  waving,  of  two 
loaves  of  bread  made  of  new  wheat  as  a  required  pre- 
liminary to  the  domestic  use  of  the  grain  which  had 
been  harvested,  and  from  the  relation  this  festival  bears 
to  the  presentation  of  the  first  sheaf  as  indicated  by  the 
direction  to  count  fifty  days  from  that  ceremony  to 
the  similar  presentation  of  the  first  loaves.  The  waving 
of  a  sheaf  or  omer  of  the  earliest  barley  was  a  consecra- 
tion of  the  harvest  into  which  the  first  sickle  had  that 
day  been  thrust ;  and  the  waving  of  the  loaves  of  wheaten 
bread  was  an  act  of  thanksgiving  for  the  cereal  fruits  of 
every  kind  which  had  now  been  gathered.  It  was  fit 
that  the  offering  with  which  the  harvest  opened  should 
be  brought  to  the  sanctuary  in  the  sheaf,  and,  since  barley 
was  the  earliest  grain,  as  a  sheaf  of  barley ;  and  equally 
appropriate  that,  when  all  kinds  of  grain  had  been  har- 
vested, the  offering  should  be  presented  in  a  form  exhib- 
iting the  produce  of  the  land  prepared  as  food  for  the 
use  of  man,  and  since  wheat  ripened  latest,  and  excelled 
in  quality,  in  the  form  of  wheaten  bread.  The  first 
ceremony  looked  forward  with  devout  hopefulness  to  a 
blessing  which  the  second  acknowledged  as  already  in 
possession.  The  numerical  increase  from  one  sheaf  to 
two  loaves  is  also  worthy  of  notice,  especially  as  each 
loaf  contained  an  omer  of  flour,  which,  as  the  word  seems 


384  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

to  indicate,  was  the  quantity  yielded  by  an  omer  or  sheaf. 
"  Two-tenths  of  an  ephah  of  white  meal  were  used  in 
the  preparation  of  these  two  loaves.  As  an  omer  of 
ears  probably  yielded  about  an  omer  of  grain  or  flour,  it 
is  a  significant  fact  that  exactly  double  the  quantity 
required  for  the  Easter  offering  of  first-fruits  was 
ordered  to  be  used  for  the  wave-loaves ;  and  this 
doubling  of  the  quantity  was  also  shown  in  the  fact  that 
the  flour  was  made  into  two  loaves,  and  not  into  one 
only.  In  the  symbolism  of  the  Hebrews,  however, 
doubling  always  expressed  a  higher  gradation,  which 
rested,  in  the  present  case,  upon  the  contrast  between 
the  beginning  and  the  close  of  the  harvest."  ^ 

The  difference  between  a  harvest  in  anticipation  and 
a  harvest  in  possession  accounts  also  for  the  peace- 
offerings  at  pentecost,  a  species  of  sacrifice  not  appointed 
to  be  brought  in  the  name  of  the  whole  congregation  on 
any  other  day  in  the  calendar.  The  waving  of  the  two 
lambs  in  connection  with  the  two  loaves  presented  them 
to  Jehovah  for  the  use  of  the  priests,  as  an  expression  oi 
thanks  for  the  cereal  produce  of  the  land  appropriate 
only  when  the  harvest  had  been  secured. 

The  sacrifices  of  the  festival  apart  from  those  which 
belonged  to  the  waving  of  the  loaves  were  equivalent  to 
the  sacrifices  appointed  for  the  days  of  unleavened 
bread,  and  the  ordinary  new-moons  ;  and  the  additional 
sacrifices  occasioned  by  the  waving  of  the  loaves,  placed 
the  day  on  a  level  with  the  seventh  new-moon. 

The  festival  of  trumpets,  with  its  rest  from  labor,  its 
holy  convocation,  its  augmented  holocaust,  and  its  inspir- 

1  Kurtz  :  Sacrificial  Worship  of  the  Old  Testament,  p.  378. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE   CALENDAR.         385 

ing  music,  imparted  a  sabbatical  character,  as  we  had 
occasion  to  remark  at  the  beginning  of  the  chapter,  to 
the  month  already  bearing  the  sabbatical  number,  —  a 
character  which  became  yet  more  decided  by  the  inclu- 
sion within  it  of  three  annual  sabbaths  in  addition  to 
that  with  which  it  commenced,  and  of  all  festivals  not 
bound  to  some  other  month  by  a  necessity  inherent  in 
their  nature.  The  whole  month,  because  it  was  seventh 
in  the  calendar,  was  a  reminder  of  Jehovah  and  of  his 
relations  and  dealings  with  the  people  of  his  covenant ; 
but  the  first  day  of  the  month  was  eminently  so,  being 
appointed  as  "  a  memorial  of  blowing  of  trumpets."  ^  Its 
rest  from  labor,  its  holy  convocation,  and  its  augmented 
holocaust,  called  attention  to  the  significance,  as  seventh 
in  the  calendar,  of  the  moon  which  now  made  its  first 
appearance  ;  and  the  sound  of  thousands  of  trumpets, 
prolonging  the  peculiar  blast  with  which  the  priests  blew 
at  this  sabbatical  moon,  reminded  Jehovah  of  his  people 
and  their  sacrifices  more  loudly  than  at  ordinary  new- 
moons.  That  the  "  memorial  of  blowing  of  trumpets " 
was  intended  to  remind  Jehovah  of  his  people,  as  well  as 
them  of  him,  or,  more  accurately,  to  assure  the  people  that 
they  were  remembered  by  their  God,  is  evident  from 
the  ordinance  concerning  the  manufacture  and  use  of  the 
two  silver  trumpets ;  which  particularly  assures  them 
that  they  shall  be  remembered  by  Jehovah,  and  saved 
from  their  enemies,  if  these  trumpets  are  sounded  in 
battle,  and  charges  them  to  blow  the  trumpets  over  the 
sacrifices  at  the  new-moons,  that  they  might  be  a 
"  memorial  before  God."  ^ 

1  Lev.  xxiii.  24.  ^  Num.  x.  9, 10. 


386  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

The  day  of  annual  atonement  reveals  its  design  in  the 
appellation  itself ;  and  its  occurrence  but  once  in  a  year 
shows  that  it  was  the  highest  and  most  comprehensive 
of  the  expiatory  provisions  of  the  law.  The  basis  of  the 
institution  was  in  the  defectiveness  of  the  other  and 
more  frequent  expiations,  which  made  it  necessary  that 
they  should  be  complemented  by  one  as  high  in  rank, 
and  as  extensive  in  applicability,  as  the  symbolic  appa- 
ratus permitted.  The  sanctuary,  as  it  stood  in  the 
midst  of  a  people  who,  though  chosen  unto  holiness,  were 
also  sinful,  and  was  served  by  officials  who,  though 
chosen  out  of  the  people  to  a  higher  holiness,  were  par- 
takers of  the  common  sinfulness,  needed  to  be  purified 
from  the  uncleanness  imparted  by  the  contact  of  such 
worshippers  and  such  ministers ;  and  its  services  of 
expiation,  inasmuch  as  they  were  liable  to  the  imperfection 
which  inheres  in  all  works  wrought  by  human  instru- 
mentality, were  acceptable  to  Jehovah,  and  satisfactory 
to  sensitive  consciences,  only  when  they  had  themselves 
been  expiated  by  the  sprinkling  of  blood.  It  is  true  that 
there  was  also  a  liability  to  imperfection  in  the  ceremo- 
nies of  the  annual  atonement ;  but,  in  the  first  place,  it 
was  easier  to  provide  that  every  thing  should  be  done  in 
exact  accordance  with  the  ritual  in  a  service  which 
occurred  but  once  in  a  year,  than  in  all  services  ;  and,  in 
the  second  place,  as  the  object  in  complementing  the 
frequent  acts  of  sprinkling  blood  was  not  to  satisfy 
speculative  objections,  but  to  assist  the  faith  of  believ- 
ing sinners,  it  was  wise  and  kind  to  do  so  by  showing 
that  the  defects  which  they  discovered  or  suspected  had 
been  foreseen  and  remedied.  The  possibility  of  defect 
in   the   remedial   and   complementary   provision    might 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE   CALENDAR.         387 

even  serve  a  good  purpose  in  suggesting  that  this  was 
not  the  real,  but  only  a  symbolic  remedy,  having  its 
counterpart  in  spiritual  things  at  present  covered  with 
mystery,  but  to  be  revealed  at  the  good  pleasure  of 
Jehovah. 

As  the  annual  expiation  was  the  highest  in  the  sym- 
bolic institutions,  the  blood  must  be  sprinkled  on  the 
capporeth,  or  golden  cover  of  the  ark,  as  the  holiest 
object  within  the  tabernacle,  the  very  throne  of  Jehovah  ; 
and  the  sprinkling  must  be  performed  by  the  highest 
of  the  priests.  As  a  remedy  for  the  defects  of  rites 
performed  by  human  instrumentality,  it  covered  with  its 
provisions  the  whole  field  of  expiation,  cancelling  the 
sins  of  the  nation  and  of  individuals,  and  thereby 
purging  the  sanctuary  itself  from  the  uncleanness 
which  otherwise  it  might  acquire  from  contact  with 
sinners. 

The  first  thing  in  the  special  service  of  expiation 
which  deserves  attention,  is  the  peculiar  dress  in  which 
the  high-priest  officiated.  Having  worn  his  garments  of 
gold  while  the  sacrifices  of  the  morning,  both  the  con- 
tinual and  the  occasional,  were  offered,  he  laid  them 
aside,  and  put  on  garments  of  white.  Like  the  costume 
of  an  ordinary  priest,  they  consisted  of  four  pieces ;  but 
there  is  no  reason  to  conclude  that  his  turban  was  con- 
formed in  shape  to  those  of  his  subordinates,  or  was  in 
any  respect  different  from  that  which  at  other  times 
distinguished  him  as  the  head  of  the  sacerdotal  order, 
except  in  the  absence  of  the  golden  crown  and  the 
ribbons  of  blue.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  reasonable  to 
believe  that,  as  the  high-priest  alone  could  perform  these 
solemn  rites,  he  retained  a  badge  of  rank  which  was  in 


3S8  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

no  way  inconsistent  with  the  significant  act  of  exchan- 
ging his  garments  of  gold  for  a  garb  of  white.  Whatever 
the  significance  of  this  exchange  may  have  been,  it  was 
conveyed  with  greater  force  because  the  costume  he 
assumed  was  wholly  white,  and  not,  like  that  of  a  subor- 
dinate priest,  variegated  with  a  girdle  containing  the 
other  sacred  colors.  These  garments  of  white  signified 
that  the  wearer  was  representing  Jehovah  not,  as  ordina- 
rily, in  the  fulness  of  his  attributes,  but,  in  accordance 
with  the  peculiar  character  of  the  day,  in  the  splendor  of 
his  holiness.  The  sin  to  be  removed  was  in  contrast 
with  the  purity  of  Jehovah,  who,  by  the  rites  appointed 
for  this  day,  declared  that  he  received  the  expiated  trans- 
gressors as  if  they  had  kept  themselves  pure  like  him- 
self. Hence  it  was  important  to  symbolize  clearly  and 
emphatically  that  attribute  of  the  divine  nature  which, 
being  opposed  to  sin,  requires  its  removal  before  the 
transgressor  is  treated  as  he  would  have  been  if  holy. 
The  person  appointed  to  transact  with  the  people  in 
the  name  of  Jehovah  therefore  disrobed  himself  of  the 
apparel  which  by  means  of  gold,  jewels,  and  colors, 
symbolized  not  only  holiness,  but  life,  royalty,  and 
heavenliness,  to  put  on,  for  the  special  service  of  expia- 
tion, a  costume  symbolizing  nothing  but  holiness.  Thus, 
by  the  temporary  removal  of  other  attributes  from  view, 
the  antagonism  of  Jehovah  to  the  sin  he  blotted  out  was 
more  clearly  and  impressively  exhibited.  That  these 
garments  of  white  represented  holiness,  and  not,  as  some 
have  supposed,  the  humiliation  and  sorrow  of  the  people 
on  account  of  sin,  is  evident  from  the  designation  of 
them  in  the  directions  for  the  day  as  "  holy  garments,"  ' 

■■  Lev.  xvi.  4. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE   CALENDAR.  389 

and  from  the  uniformity  with  which,  in  other  cases,  white 
raiment  symboKzes  purity  and  splendor. 

But  this  representative  of  the  purity  of  Jehovah  was 
himself  a  sinful  man,  and,  as  such,  needed  expiation. 
His  first  act,'  therefore,  in  the  ceremonial  of  the  day,  was 
the  presentation  of  a  sin-offering  for  himself  and  his 
associates  in  the  priesthood.  As  befitted  the  high  posi- 
tion of  the  persons  whose  sins  were  to  be  taken  away, 
and  the  consequently  greater  importance  of  their  trans- 
gressions, the  victim  was  of  the  highest  grade  ;  and,  as 
befitted  the  crowning  expiatory  service  of  the  year,  its 
blood  was  carried  to  the  holiest  apartment  of  the  taber- 
nacle. It  was  here  sprinkled  once  on  the  mercy-seat, 
and  seven  times  on  the  ground  in  front  of  it ;  the  first 
application  of  the  blood  having  reference  to  the  restora- 
tion of  the  sacerdotal  order  to  the  favor  of  Jehovah,  and 
the  seven  which  followed  to  the  anticipated  removal 
from  this  apartment  of  the  uncleanness  which  other- 
wise it  might  contract  from  their  sins.  The  admis- 
sion of  the  blood  within  the  holy  of  holies  showed 
that  the  penitent  sinners  in  whose  behalf  the  symbol  of 
life  was  brought,  might  come  not  merely  where  they 
could  have  fellowship  with  God  by  faith,  but  where  there 
should  be  no  veil  between  him  and  them  ;  and  its  appli- 
cation to  the  golden  mercy-seat,  where  Jehovah  dwelt 
enthroned  between  the  cherubim,  set  forth  the  fulness  of 
fellowship  with  him  to  which  they  were  entitled  by 
virtue  of  the  atoning  blood. 

The  symbol  was  thus  prophetic,  since  the  expiation 

was  performed  in  behalf  of  the  whole  priesthood,  while 

only  the  high-priest  could  enter  the  holy  of  holies,  and 

come  to  the  capporetli.     It  was    a  sign    that   those  for 

33* 


390  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

whom  the  bullock  had  surrendered  his  life  were  alive 
unto  God  with  such  fulness  of  life,  that  the  curtain  of 
separation  should  not  always  exclude  them  from  the 
nearer  approach,  and  more  intimate  fellowship,  symbolized 
by  the  innermost  apartment  of  the  tabernacle.  The 
sprinkling  on  the  ground  in  front  of  the  mercy-seat  was 
the  application  to  this  apartment  of  the  blood  which,  as 
it  cancelled  the  sins  of  the  priests,  was  efficacious  to 
take  away  also  from  the  symbolic  apparatus  the  con- 
taminating uncleanness  of  death  consequent  on  sin. 
The  septenary  number  fitly  associates  with  this  lustra- 
tion the  idea  of  the  covenant,  as  if  Jehovah  had  purged 
the  sanctuary  that,  according  to  his  engagement  with 
his  people,  he  might  dwell  among  them. 

One  defect  in  the  ceremonial  by  which  the  sins  of  the 
high-priest  were  taken  away  is  obvious  to  the  most 
careless  observer,  as  is  also  the  necessity  which  compels 
the  introduction  of  it.  There  being  no  person  who 
could  mediate  between  Jehovah  and  his  highest  official, 
the  sinner  himself  acts  in  the  place  of  a  mediator, 
entering  the  holy  of  holies  before  he  was  expiated,  and 
presenting  the  blood  of  his  own  sin-offering ;  but  this 
very  imperfection  was  serviceable  to  the  ultimate  design 
of  the  symbolism,  as  it  was  suggestive  of  a  greater 
priest,  who  should  be  sinless,  and  therefore  able  to  do  in 
reality  what  the  symbolic  priest  could  effect  only  as  he 
was  a  symbol  and  a  type.  If  there  was  any  signifi- 
cance in  the  symbolic  apparatus,  the  removal  of  sin  from 
the  high-priest  before  he  could  officiate  as  an  expiatory 
mediator  declared  the  necessity  that  there  should 
be  a  sinless  priest,  the  impossibility  of  finding  him  in 
the   family  of   Aaron,  and    the  consequent   probability 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE   CALENDAR.         391 

that,  though  still  unrevealed,  such  a  priest  had  been 
provided. 

The  Jioly  of  holies  being  now  purified  from  the  sins  of 
the  priesthood,  similar  ceremonies  with  the  blood  of  the 
goat  elected  to  be  slain,  purified  it  from  the  uncleanness 
consequent  on  the  sins  of  the  whole  people.  The  outer 
apartment  was  then  cleansed  by  sprinkling  the  blood  of 
the  two  sin-offerings  at  one  and  the  same  time  ;  after- 
ward the  altar  in  the  court  was  purified,  the  lustration 
being  confined  to  the  altar  because  it  alone  was  regarded 
as  a  seat  of  Jehovah,  the  court  being  the  place  where  the 
holy  nation  dwelt,  and  the  altar  his  dwelling-place  in  the 
midst  of  them. 

The  second  goat  was  a  part  of  the  sin-offering,  supple- 
menting the  symbolism  of  the  other  by  representing 
that  the  sins  of  the  nation  were  removed,  to  be  forever 
out  of  sight.  The  first  covered  with  its  life  the  forfeited 
lives  of  those  who  had  sinned,  and  showed  that  they 
were  still  alive  unto  God,  and  entitled  to  approach  the 
Living  One  in  his  habitation  :  the  second  carried  away 
the  sins  themselves.  The  two  goats  were  one  sin- 
offering  ;  1  and  the  sacrifice  consisted  of  two  animals, 
because,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  one  could  not  symbol- 
ize all  that  was  to  be  represented.  As,  in  the  lustration 
of  the  leper,  two  birds  were  necessary,  because  one  could 
not  furnish  its  blood  to  be  used  as  a  symbol  of  life  to 
show  that  the  person  who  had  been  a  leper  was  now 
whole,  and  also  fly  away  to  represent  that  he  was 
restored  to  freedom,  so  the  sacrifice  for  sin,  on  the  day 
of  atonement,  required  two  goats,  that  one  might  repre- 
sent the  means  and  the  other  the  effect  of  redemption ;  it 

1  Lev.  xvi.  5. 


392  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

being  impossible  that  the  two  parts  of  the  representation 
should  be  acted  by  one  and  the  same  animal.  The 
assignment  of  each  animal  by  lot  to  the  particular  part 
it  was  to  bear  in  the  ceremonial  shows  that  they  were, 
until  thus  assigned,  equal  and  exchangeable  factors  in 
the  representation.  The  lot  determined  which  should 
be  for  Jehovah,  and  which  should  be  for  removal ;  which 
should  cover  the  sins  of  the  people  by  surrendering  its 
life,  and  which  should  carry  away  the  sins  thus  covered 
into  utter  separation. 

"  Scape-goat  "  is  probably  an  inaccurate  translation  of 
azazel,  but  does  not  materially  deflect  the  sentences  in 
which  the  word  occurs  from  their  true  meaning.  The 
word  not  being  found  elsewhere  in  the  Scriptures,  we 
have  only  its  etymology,  and  its  relative  position  in  the 
ordinance  concerning  the  day  of  atonement,  to  teach  us 
its  definition.  Azazel  is  in  Arabic  the  proper  name  of  an 
evil  spirit ;  and  it  has  been  inferred  that  the  word  is  thus 
used  in  this  passage.  But  such  an  interpretation  of  the 
ceremonial  of  the  day  of  atonement  is  contradictory  to 
the  spirit  of  Mosaism,  and  less  probable  than  the  supposi- 
tion that  Mohammedans  derived  the  proper  name  Azazel 
from  this  passage  as  erroneously  interpreted  either  by 
themselves  or  by  Jewish  commentators.  Tholuck  has 
suggested  that  azazel  is  an  abstract  noun  from  azal,  to 
remove,  and  signifies  "  complete  removal."  ^ 

The  cloud  of  incense  which  filled  the  Jioly  of  holies 
while  the  ceremonial  of  the  two  sin-offerings  was  in 
progress,  was  for  the  purpose  of  covering  from  the  sight 
of  the  high-priest  the  pillar  of  cloud  which  rested  over 
the  mercy-seat.     But,  since  the  burning  of  incense  is  a 

1  Das  alte  Testament  im  neuen  Testament,  p.  83,  note. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE   CALENDAR.         393 

symbol  of  prayer,  we  may  belieye  that  the  fragrant  cloud 
which  concealed  the  shecJiinali  from  the  high-priest,  was 
also  designed  to  teach  him  that  he  should  come  into  the 
presence  of  God  not  with  familiarity  and  irreverence, 
but  in  the  spirit  of  worship.  The  material  from  which 
the  enveloping  cloud  was  formed  thus  coincided  with  the 
envelopment  itself  in  the  exaltation  of  Jehovah. 

As  was  customary  and  appropriate  after  sin-offerings, 
sacrifices  of  dedication,  wherein  both  priests  and  people 
professed  to  surrender  themselves  to  God,  followed  the 
ceremonial  of  expiation.  Before  the  high-priest  pro- 
ceeded to  offer  these  burnt-offerings,  he  put  off  the 
garments  whose  significance  was  specially  appropriate 
to  offices  for  the  removal  of  sin,  and  resumed  the 
costume  which  more  fully  expressed  the  dignity  and 
authority  with  which  he  was  clothed  as  the  authorized 
representative  of  Jehovah. 

Normally,  so  much  of  the  flesh  of  sin-offerings  as  was 
not  consumed  on  the  altar,  was  eaten  by  the  priests,  as 
the  holy  household  of  God  sharing  with  him  in  his  joy 
over  the  restoration  of  the  ruined.  But  as  the  bullock 
had  been  offered  for  the  priests  themselves,  and  the  goat 
for  the  nation  in  which  the  priests  were  included,  they 
could  not  appear  in  this  representation  as  the  holy 
associates  of  Jehovah.  This  part  of  the  representation, 
therefore,  was  omitted,  as  on  all  occasions  when  atone- 
ment was  made  either  for  the  priests  specifically,  or  for 
the  nation  in  general.  The  flesh  of  the  bullock  and 
of  the  goat,  instead  of  being  eaten  by  the  priests  within 
the  enclosure  of  the  tabernacle,  was  carried  beyond  the 
boundary  line  of  the  encampment,  and  burned  to  ashes 
as  too  holy  for  any  common  use. 


394  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

The  uncleanness  of  the  person  who  led  away  the  living 
goat  into  the  wilderness,  and  of  the  person  who  burned 
the  slain  goat  and  the  bullock,  was  consequent  on  going 
out  of  the  holy  encampment.  It  is  a  very  great  mis- 
take to  suppose  that  they  acquired  it  by  touching  the 
sin-offerings,  which,  so  far  from  imparting  defilement, 
were  in  the  highest  degree  holy,  —  more  holy  than 
peace-offerings  ;  the  latter  being  simply  "  holy,"  while 
a  sin-offering  was  always  "  most  holy,"  ^  and  was,  in  all 
cases  when  the  priests  had  not  disqualified  themselves  by 
sin,  to  be  eaten  within  the  habitation  of  Jehovah,  by  the 
members  of  his  household  separated  from  the  rest  of 
the  nation  to  a  higher  sanctity.  As  distinguished 
from  what  was  outside  of  its  precincts,  the  camp  was 
regarded  as  a  holy  place  ;  and  the  idea  of  its  holiness 
was  inculcated  by  pronouncing  those  who  went  out 
unclean,  and  requiring  them  to  wash  before  they  could 
re-enter. 

The  festival  of  tabernacles  as  originally  instituted, 
presents  but  little  symbolism.  Its  primary  design  was 
to  give  expression  to  joy  and  gratitude  in  view  of  the 
products  of  the  earth,  every  kind  of  which  had  now 
been  gathered  ;  and  it  was  therefore  also  called  the  fes- 
tival of  ingathering. 

The  requirement  that  the  people  should  dwell  in 
booths  made  of  branches  of  trees  so  well  accords  with 
the  agricultural  character  of  the  celebration,  that  the 
festivities  of  harvest  may  have  been  a  primary  reason 
for  erecting  these  bowers,  and  dwelling  for  the  time 
beneath  the  shade  of  branches  cut  from  the  palm  or 

1  Lev.  vi,  25,  29. 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE   CALENDAR.         395 

other  beautiful  trees,  and  allowed  to  retain  their  foliage 
and  fruit.  But  an  opportunity  was  thus  afforded  to 
make  this  joyous  festival  in  the  land  of  promise 
commemorate  the  experience  of  the  fathers  in  their 
passage  thither  from  the  land  of  bondage.  For  though 
the  Hebrews  dwelt  in  canvas  tents,  and  not  in  leafy 
bowers,  while  on  their  journey  from  Egypt  to  Canaan, 
the  booths  which  their  descendants  constructed  for 
the  festivities  of  harvest  were  analogous  to  tents  in  the 
relation  they  bore  to  dwellings  built  for  permanence. 
As  related  to  the  ceiled  houses  which  the  Hebrews 
occupied  in  Canaan,  the  booth  and  the  tent  were  the 
same  ;  and  therefore,  notwithstanding  the  difference 
between  them  in  material  and  appearance,  the  statute 
reads,  "  Ye  shall  dwell  in  booths  seven  days ;  that  your 
generations  may  know  that  I  made  the  children  of 
Israel  to  dwell  in  booths,  when  I  brought  them  out 
of  the  land  of  Egypt."  ^ 

The  festival  not  only  presented  in  these  places  of 
temporary  sojourn  a  visible  reminder  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  fathers  lived  when  they  had  no  country  in 
possession,  but  furnished  opportunity  once  in  seven 
years,  in  the  year  of  release,  for  all  the  people  to  listen 
to  the  public  reading  of  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy,  so  that 
the  children,  as  they  came  to  years  of  understanding, 
might  be  acquainted  with  the  history  and  laws  of  their 
nation.  Though  in  the  intervening  years,  the  book  of 
the  law  was  not  publicly  read,  the  anniversary  must 
have  turned  the  current  of  thought  toward  the  matters 
rehearsed  in  the  sabbatical  year ;  so  that  this  festival  was 
fitted  to  bring  to  recollection  not  merely  the  fact  that 

1  Lev.  xxiii.  42. 


396  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE, 

their  fathers  dwelt  in  tabernacles,  but  all  the  facts 
connected  with  the  journey  from  Egypt  to  Canaan.  As 
the  passover  was  a  memorial  of  the  deliverance  experi- 
enced at  the  beginning  of  the  journey,  so  was  the  feast 
of  booths,  of  life  in  the  wilderness.  Nor  was  the 
connection  of  such  a  memorial  with  the  joy  of  harvest 
arbitrary  and  forced;  for  nothing  was  more  natural  than 
to  associate  in  thought  the  richness  of  their  inheritance 
with  the  probationary  trials  by  means  of  which  the 
nation  had  been  prepared  to  possess  it. 

It  is  not  known  by  what  authority  the  pouring  of 
water  as  a  drink-offering  was  introduced  as  one  of  the 
ceremonies  of  this  festival ;  but  the  ceremony  is  in  itself 
a  joyous  recognition  of  water  as  one  of  the  blessings 
yielded  by  the  land  Jehovah  had  given  them.  They 
brought  it  to  his  altar,  as  they  did  other  fruits  of  the 
land,  in  grateful  acknowledgment  of  his  goodness  in 
providing  for  them  such  a  country.  But  it  would  be 
very  congruous  with,  and  auxiliary  to,  such  joy  and 
gratitude,  to  remember  the  scarcity  of  water  in  the 
wilderness.  In  like  manner,  in  regard  to  every  comfort 
the  people  derived  from  their  inheritance,  a  compari- 
son of  their  experience  with  that  which  their  fathers 
had  in  the  wilderness,  as  it  increased  their  appre- 
ciation of  Canaan,  was  appropriate  to  a  festival  of  in- 
gathering. 

Though  oil  was  originally  appointed,  and  always  con- 
tinued to  symbolize  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  water  was  never  so  used  in  the  time  of  Moses,  we 
are  assured  by  the  evangelist  that  our  Lord  regarded 
the  water  drawn  from  the  Pool  of  Siloam,  and  poured  out 
during  the  festival  of  booths,  as  a  symbol  of  the  Holy 


INTERPRETATION  OF  THE   CALENDAR.  397 

Spirit.^  The  pouring  of  water,  and  the  pouring  of  God's 
Spirit,  are  associated  by  Isaiah  ^  as  if  they  were  parallel 
expressions ;  one  in  the  dialect  of  symbolism,  and  one 
in  the  dialect  of  nude  spiritualism.  So  far  as  can  now 
be  ascertained,  water,  as  life-sustaining,  was  first  used 
by  Isaiah  to  symbolize  the  refreshing  influence  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  In  the  time  of  our  Lord,  its  symbolism 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  so  well  established  that  it  had 
been  incorporated  into  the  temple-service.  It  was 
much  used  by  him,  and  is  found  many  times  in  the 
writings  of  the  evangelist  who  has  interpreted  it  for 
us  as  used  by  our  Lord  on  the  sabbath  which  closed 
not  only  the  festivities  of  harvest,  but  the  annual  cycle  of 
festivals.  It  has  its  basis  in  the  refreshing  influence 
of  water  on  those  who  are  suffering  with  thirst.  To 
such,  living  water  is  the  water  of  life  not  because  in 
contrast  with  stagnant  water  it  seems  to  be  alive,  but 
because  as  a  beverage  it  sustains  life.  As  a  means  to 
this  end  it  ranks  with  corn  and  wine,  but  was  omitted 
from  the  altar-gifts  required  by  the  law  of  Moses  proba- 
bly because  the  industry  of  man  was  not  concerned  in 
its  production.  By  some  means  it  was  afterward  intro- 
duced into  the  ceremonies  of  the  week  which  reminded 
the  people  of  the  riches  of  their  inheritance,  and  of  the 
contrast  between  their  condition  and  that  of  their  fathers 
when  passing  through  the  wilderness. 

1  John  vii.  39.  The  interpretation,  given  by  Jews  since  the  Christian  era  to  the 
s}-mboIic  worship  of  their  ancestors,  does  not  often  accord  with  the  Christian; 
but  a  passage  in  the  Jerusalem  Talmud  is,  as  Lightfoot  observes,  worthy  of  remark, 
which  testifies  that  this  ceremony  of  drawing  and  pouring  water  was  "  because  of 
the  drawing  or  pouring-out  of  the  Holy  Ghost  according  to  what  is  said,  '  With  joy 
shall  ye  draw  water  out  of  the  wells  of  salvation  '"  See  Lightfoot's  Works,  vol.  i, 
p.  978. 

2  Ch.  xliv.  3. 

34 


398  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

The  illumination,  by  means  of  which  in  later  times  the 
hilarity  of  this  festival  was  prolonged  into  the  night,  we 
need  not  take  time  to  interpret ;  because,  in  the  first  place, 
there  is  no  evidence  that  the  custom  originated  before 
the  tabernacle  gave  place  to  the  temple,  and,  in  the 
second  place,  light  is  so  evidently  a  means  of  vision,  of 
safety,  and  of  enjoyment,  that  we  may  regard  it  as  self- 
elucidating. 

It  is  easy  to  account  for  the  large  increase  of  burnt- 
offerings  during  this  festival,  the  kindness  of  God  which 
it  commemorated  naturally  prompting  the  people  to  the 
presentation  of  themselves  and  their  property  to  him  ; 
but  no  satisfactory  reason  is  apparent  to  the  modern 
student  of  these  symbols  why  one  day  was  distinguished 
above  another,  so  that  the  division  of  the  seventy  bul- 
locks into  seven  unequal  numbers,  arranged  in  a  series 
regularly  descending  to  seven,  is  an  enigma  waiting  for 
solution.  The  sum  of  the  series,  and  the  number  in 
which  it  terminates,  are,  however,  even  in  the  present 
state  of  our  knowledge,  suggestive.  It  was  appropriate 
to  an  agricultural  festival,  that  the  sacrifices  of  dedica- 
tion should  largely  consist  of  the  animal  employed  in 
the  work  of  tillage.  It  was  equally  appropriate  that  the 
septenary  sign  usually  applied  to  festivals  should  not  be 
wanting,  and  that  the  decimal  symbol  of  completeness 
should  be  combined  with  it  to  distinguish  the  highest 
festival  of  the  year. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS  OR  TYPES. 

The  tabernacle  exhibiting  the  kingdom  of  God  not 
only  in  the  stage  of  development  in  which  it  then  existed, 
but  as  destined  to  pass  into  higher  stages,  was  necessa- 
rily prophetic.  All  its  symbols  were  signs  of  future 
things  either  in  the  sense  that  the  truths  they  exhibited 
were  truths  of  Christianity,  as  well  as  of  Mosaism,  or  in 
the  sense  that  they  exhibited  truths  peculiar  to  Chris- 
tianity. The  institution  signified  in  general  that  the 
living  God  removes  from  penitent  sinners  the  sentence 
of  death  incurred  by  transgression  of  his  law,  and  treats 
them  as  if  they  had  been  obedient,  receiving  them  as 
children  to  his  favor  and  fellowship.  But  this  theology 
belongs  to  Christianity  as  much  as  to  Mosaism,  and  the 
tabernacle  exhibited  it  as  a  truth  of  the  future,  as  well 
as  of  the  time  then  present.  In  its  relation  to  Chris- 
tianity, therefore,  the  tabernacle  was  a  symbol  of  future 
things,  or  a  type. 

In  this  sense  not  only  the  institution  as  a  whole,  but 
also  its  several  elements,  were  typical ;  for  Christianity 
contains  all  the  ideas  inculcated  by  Mosaism.  When,  by 
the  slaughter  of  an  animal  as  a  sin-offering,  it  repre- 
sented that  a  sinner  could  live  unto  God  by  means  of  a 
death ;  when  by  the  sprinkling  of  the  symbol  of  life  it 

399 


400  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

represented  that  the  soul  of  the  sinner,  having  vicari- 
ously passed  through  death,  was  now  alive  unto  God,  — 
it  symbolized  truths  which  are  parts  of  the  Christian,  as 
well  as  of  the  Mosaic  system. 

It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  this  conception  of 
a  type  does  not  allow  it  the  fulness  of  significance  to 
which  it  is  justly  entitled.  Strictly,  a  type  symbolizes 
not  merely  something  which  is  to  have  existence  in 
the  future,  but  something  whose  existence  is  only  in  the 
future.  The  tabernacle  is  a  type,  nevertheless,  even  in 
this  restricted  sense ;  for  as  God  dwelt  in  it  among  the 
Hebrews,  so  since  the  incarnation  he  dwells  in  Christ  as 
a  tabernacle  of  meeting.  The  sacred  tent  constructed 
at  Sinai  represented  him  as  present  with  the  holy 
nation  ;  but  in  the  temple  of  Christ's  body  he  is  Em- 
manuel to  all  nations.  He  is  with  us  as  he  was  with 
them,  and  for  the  same  ends  ;  namely,  that  he  may  be  our 
God  and  Saviour,  providing  expiation  for  our  sins,  and 
receiving  us  to  his  fellowship  as  members  of  his  house- 
hold. But  the  Christian  tabernacle  of  meeting  is  supe- 
rior to  that  of  the  Hebrews,  as  the  substance  is  superior 
to  the  shadow ;  for  while  the  latter  is  a  symbol  repre- 
senting in  outward  forms  that  God  dwells  with  men  as  a 
father  with  his  children,  Christ  is  really  the  manifesta- 
tion of  God  dwelling  with  his  people,  providing  for 
them  an  expiation  not  symbolic,  but  real,  and  admitting 
them  to  fellowship  not  in  outward  forms,  but  in  spirit 
and  in  truth.  Christ  is  therefore  in  the  Christian  sys- 
tem what  the  tabernacle  was  a  symbol  of  in  the  Mosaic. 
It  prophesied  of  him,  and  was  dependent  on  him  for  its 
symbolic  significance :  he  is  its  antitype.  Accordingly, 
when,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  the  kingdom  of  God  passed 


PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS  OR    TYPES.  401 

from  its  first  to  its  second  stage  of  development,  and 
Christ  became  the  tabernacle  of  meeting  between  God 
and  men,  the  reason  for  maintaining  the  typical  sanctu- 
ary with  its  typical  sacrifices  ceased,  and  it  was  soon 
allowed  to  pass  away  never  to  be  re-established.  Our 
Lord  recognized  expressly  the  symbolic  relation  of  the 
temple  to  himself,  and  implicitly  that  of  the  tabernacle, 
when  he  said,  "  Destroy  this  temple,  and  in  three  days  I 
will  raise  it  up  ;  "  speaking  not,  as  his  auditors  supposed, 
of  the  symbol,  but  of  that  which  it  symbolized.^ 

If,  then,  the  edifice  of  the  tabernacle  was  intended  to 
typify  the  temple  of  Christ's  body  in  which  God  mani- 
fests himself  to  men,  in  which  he  meets  his  people,  and 
dwells  among  them,  what  can  we  expect  but  to  find  here 
and  there,  throughout  the  whole  system  of  symbols  of 
which  this  edifice  was  the  nucleus,  parts  which  are 
dependent  on  the  incarnation  for  their  significance .'' 
Whether  we  look  first  at  the  bleeding  sacrifices  of  Mosa- 
ism,  or  at  the  Lamb  of  God  to  which  Christianity  points, 
we  feel  sure,  as  we  compare  the  expiatory  provisions  of 
the  two  systems,  that  the  former  was  intended  to  fore- 
shadow the  latter.  The  sin-offering  of  the  tabernacle 
signified  that,  in  the  temple  to  be  built  on  the  incarna- 
tion of  God  as  a  foundation,  a  sacrifice  would  be  offered 
which,  by  reason  of  its  inherent  efficacy,  would  need  no 
repetition,  and  would  take  away  whatever  necessity 
might  have  previously  existed  for  symbolic  sacrifices. 

In  such  comparison  of  one  system  with  the  other,  we 
have  in  our  day  opportunity  for  discovering  types  of 
which  the  ancients  were  destitute.  But,  in  the  evi- 
dent imperfection  of  some  parts  of  the  Mosaic  system, 

1  John  iL  21. 
34* 


402  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

there  was,  even  before  the  advent  of  Christ,  reason 
for  expecting  something  better  in  the  future  ;  that  is,  for 
understanding  these  imperfect  parts  as  prophetic  of 
something  worthy  of  the  whole  system  in  which  they 
were  contained,  and  of  the  mind  which  devised'  it.  It  is 
said  that  the  lowest  of  vertebrate  animals  has  rudimen- 
tary bones  rendering  no  aid  to  the  mechanism  of  its 
body,  and  serving  only  to  connect  it  with  higher  classes 
in  the  same  division  of  the  animal  kingdom.  When  only 
the  lowest  species  of  the  vertebrates  existed  on  the 
earth,  the  organs  they  possessed  in  a  rudimentary  state 
were  prophecies  of  homologues  afterward  to  appear  in 
full  development  in  animals  of  a  higher  class.  So  the 
evidently  imperfect  expiations  which  Mosaism  provided 
by  the  death  of  an  animal,  and  the  presentation  before 
God  of  the  symbol  of  its  life,  foretold  a  homologous 
provision  which  would  be  faultless.^  At  first  only  a  very 
vague  conception  could  be  formed  of  this  archetypal 
expiation  ;  but,  as  the  light  of  revelation  increased  from 
age  to  age,  the  mystery  revealed  itself  more  and  more. 
After  King  David  had  predicted  that  one  of  his  descend- 
ants, whom  he  denominates  his  lord,  should  sit  as  a  ruler 
at  the  right  hand  of  Jehovah,  and  be  a  perpetual  priest, 
thus,  like  Melchizedek,  uniting  the  royal  and  sacerdotal 
offices,  a  pious  Hebrew,  believing  that  David  spoke  as  he 
was  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  had  reason  to  look 
forward  to  this  son  of  David  as  a  priest  who  would 
perform  the  efficacious  and  complete  expiation  which  the 
blood  of  bullocks  and  of  goats  symbolized,  but  could  not 
accomplish.'  When  Isaiah  predicted  that  the  true  expia- 
tor  would  pour  out  his  own  soul  unto  death  as  an  offering 

1  Heb.  vii.  ii. 


PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS  OR    TYPES.  403 

for  sin,  he  furnished  his  countrymen  with  the  means  of 
approximating  still  nearer  in  their  conceptions  to  the 
archetypal  expiation  predicted  by  the  sacrifices  offered 
in  the  national  sanctuary  day  by  day  continually.  But 
these  sacrifices  were  as  truly  prophetic  symbols  when 
first  ordained  at  Sinai,  as  afterward  when,  in  the  progress 
of  revelation,  the  people  of  God  better  understood  what 
victim  was  to  die,  and  what  priest  was  to  officiate,  in  the 
sacrifice  to  which  they  pointed.  As  the  ownership  of  a 
book  does  not  of  itself  enable  the  owner  to  read  it,  so 
the  possession  of  prophetic  symbols  is  not  inconsistent 
with  ignorance  of  the  future  events  which  they  symbol- 
ize. The  question  is  not.  How  much  of  the  future  did 
the  Hebrew  read  in  his  system  of  symbolism  }  but.  Did 
it  symbolize  future  things  ?  Was  it  such  a  pattern  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  that  from  our  stand-point  we  can 
see  that  the  mind  which  devised  it  must  have  been 
cognizant  of  the  future,  and  must  have  designed  this 
symbolism  as  a  type  of  the  kingdom  in  future  stages  of 
its  development  .-*  The  earliest  vertebrate  animal  was  a 
type  of  all  later  and  higher  species  of  vertebrates,  even 
when  these  later  and  higher  species  existed  only  in  the 
mind  of  the  Creator.  Was  the  Mosaic  symbolism  in 
like  manner  typical  of  Christianity .''  Did  it  include,  in 
its  representation  of  the  kingdom  of  God  as  then  devel- 
oped, symbols  obviously  imperfect  and  rudimentary,  but 
homologous  to  truths  characteristic  of  Christianity  in 
distinction  from  Mosaism } 

It  is  our  first  task  to  ascertain,  by  a  comparison  of 
Mosaism  with  Christianity,  what  symbols  employed  by  the 
former  were  prophetic.  Afterward  it  may  be  interesting 
to  inquire  how  much  the  Hebrews  knew,  or  had  in  their 


404  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

power  to  learn,  of  this  anticipative  significance.  We 
propose,  therefore,  to  review  the  symbolic  apparatus  of 
Mosaism  for  the  purpose  of  pointing  out  such  parts  of  it 
as  were  dependent  for  their  full  significance  on  the 
incarnation.  In  such  a  search  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  the  symbols  of  Mosaism  were  types  in  this  restricted 
sense  only  when  that  which  they  represented  was  to 
undergo  change.  One  who  regards  the  Mosaic  institu- 
tions as  a  system  of  symbols,  intended  primarily  for  the 
instruction  of  the  Hebrews  in  regard  to  the  kingdom  of 
God  as  it  then  existed,  will  doubtless  find  fewer  prophetic 
symbols  than  Lund  and  other  typologists  of  the  school 
which  believed  that  the  tabernacle  was  designed  solely 
to  symbolize  future  things.  Some  of  the  Hebrew  sym- 
bols had  no  reference  to  time.  What  they  represented 
was  as  true  in  the  present  as  in  the  future.  Incense, 
for  example,  was  a  symbol  of  prayer,  but  of  prayer 
offered  while  the  tabernacle  was  yet  standing,  as  truly  as 
of  modern  prayer.  It  was  a  symbol  which  contained  in 
itself  no  element  of  prophecy.  Other  Hebrew  symbols 
were  dependent  for  their  full  significance  on  something 
future.  We  have  already  seen  that  the  edifice  of  the 
tabernacle  symbolized  the  habitation  of  God  with  men 
and,  in  its  full  significance,  his  habitation  with  us  by 
means  of  the  incarnation.  It  thus  had  significance  both 
as  a  symbol  and  as  a  type.  We  shall  find  that  some 
other  symbols,  in  like  manner,  did  not  exhaust  their 
import  in  setting  forth  the  kingdom  of  God  as  then 
existing  in  the  world,  but  were  laden  with  additional 
meajiing  in  regard  to  future  things. 


PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS  OR    TYPES.  405 

The  edifice  of  the  tabernacle,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
a  type  of  Christ,  in  whom  God  dwells  among  men  as 
their  Saviour.  But  the  symbolism  of  the  edifice 
indicates  that  the  people  of  God  are  incorporated  into 
his  holy  habitation.  The  planks  of  acacia  of  which  its 
walls  consisted  signified  that  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel 
were  built  into  the  sanctuary.  Such  symbolism,  being 
dependent  on  the  incarnation  for  its  significance,  must 
be  a  prophetic  declaration  that,  when  God  shall  become 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  his  people  shall  be  incorporated 
into,  and  become  one  with,  the  tabernacle  in  which  he 
shall  dwell.  In  other  words,  the  symbolism  of  the 
tabernacle  included  a  prophetic  symbol  of  the  union  of 
Christians  with  Christ  in  the  temple  which  God  inhabits. 
This  union  could  not  take  place  in  its  fulness  before  the 
incarnation.  The  sanctuary  must  be  built,  or  believers 
could  not  be  built  into  it.  But  the  prophetic  symbol 
implies  that,  when  God  shall  manifest  himself  in  the 
flesh,  he  will  dwell  not  only  among,  but  in  his  people,  — 
implies  that  the  incarnation  will  be  an  epoch  when  a 
new  dispensation  will  commence,  differing  from  the  old 
in  the  more  intimate  union  it  establishes  between  God 
and  men,  and  the  more  abundant  communication  of  his 
Spirit  for  which  it  provides  by  means  of  such  union. 
The  planks  of  acacia  in  the  tabernacle,  and  the  stones  in 
the  temple,  looked  forward  to  Christianity  for  their 
archetypes  as  the  fins  of  a  Silurian  fish  to  the  arms  and 
legs  of  a  man.  Without  such  prospective  reference, 
they  contribute  to  the  symbolic  significance  of  the 
tabernacle  as  little  as  the  bones  of  a  fish  which  are 
homologous  to  those  in  the  arm  of  a  man,  but  exist  only 
as  rudiments,  contribute  to  the  mechanism  of  the  animal, 


4o6  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

It  is  allowed  that  provision  was  made  whereby,  in  view 
of  the  future  incarnation,  God  dwelt  in  believers  before 
the  advent  of  Christ.  But  Christianity  is  especially  the 
dispensation  of  the  Spirit ;  and  it  is  by  oneness  with 
Christ,  by  incorporation  as  living  stones  into  the  temple 
founded  by  the  incarnation,  that  Christians  have  fellow- 
ship with  their  heavenly  Father.  As  a  representation 
of  the  kingdom  of  God  after  the  incarnation,  the 
tabernacle  presented,  in  the  construction  of  its  walls  fitly 
framed  together,  a  type  of  the  union  of  those  who 
believe  in  Christ  with  one  another  to  form  the  spiritual 
temple  in  which  God  dwells  by  his  Spirit. 

But  if  the  frame  of  acacia  typified  the  union  of 
believers  with  each  other,  after  the  incarnation,  in  a 
living  temple  of  sanctified  humanity  built  on  Christ  as 
a  foundation,  the  division  of  the  enclosed  space-  into  two 
apartments  represented  two  stages  in  the  development 
of  the  kingdom  of  God,  both  subsequent  to  the  incarna- 
tion, and  one  so  distant  in  the  future  that  in  this 
eighteenth  century  after  the  advent  of  Christ  it  has  not 
yet  been  reached.  The  outer  apartment  portrayed  the 
period  between  the  two  advents  when  men  draw  near  to 
God,  and  have  fellowship  with  him  by  faith ;  and  the  inner 
chamber,  that  eternal  state  which  will  be  introduced  by 
the  second  coming  of  Christ,  when  the  veil  which  now 
hides  God  from  his  people  shall  be  removed,  and  they 
shall  see  his  face.  The  threefold  division  of  the  taber- 
nacle, therefore,  is  still  a  prophetic  symbol.  In  the  time 
of  Moses  it  prophesied  of  the  two  advents  of  our  Lord, 
and  their  respective  influence  on  the  condition  of  his 
people  ;  in  our  time  it  still  typifies  the  final  condition  of 
redeemed  humanity,  when  "  the  tabernacle  of  God  will  be 


PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS  OR    TYPES.  407 

with  men,  and  he  will  dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall 
be  his  people,  and  God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be 
their  God  ;  and  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from 
their  eyes  ;  and  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither 
sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain  : 
for  the  former  things  are  passed  away."  ^ 

The  symbolism  of  form  and  number  in  the  tabernacle 
foretold  the  continuance  of  imperfection  in  that  stage  of 
development  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  when,  the  expia- 
tion typified  in  the  court  having  been  accomplished,  the 
people  of  God  should  be  permitted  to  draw  near  to  him 
by  faith  as  members  of  his  family,  and  the  entire 
removal  of  imperfection  in  that  final  state  when  they 
shall  see  his  face,  and  dwell  with  him  in  a  world  recon- 
structed so  as  to  be  itself  faultless,  and  to  shut  out  all 
physical  and  spiritual  evil.  The  typical  significance 
imparted  by  the  square,  the  cube,  and  the  decade,  as 
employed  in  the  tabernacle,  can  be  comprehended  in  our 
day  only  through  study  of  these  symbols  as  used  by  the 
writer  of  the  Apocalypse,  and  even  in  the  light  so 
reflected  is  with  difficulty  comprehended  in  its  fulness  ; 
but,  the  more  thoroughly  his  usage  is  studied,  the  more 
clearly  will  it  appear  that  these  symbols  as  they  occur  in 
the  tabernacle  were  laden  with  prophecy. 

If  the  tabernacle  foretold  the  appearance  of  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  that  which  the  priesthood  of  the 
tabernacle  represented  could  have  no  reality  till  after 
the  incarnation.  In  other  words,  a  typical  interpretation 
of  the  edifice  necessitates  a  corresponding  reference  of  the 
symbolism    of    the   priesthood   forward   to   the   time  of 

1  Rev.  xxi.  3,  4. 


4o8  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

Emmanuel.  Moreover,  as  the  edifice  typified  a  person, 
his  personality  suggests  that  Emmanuel  may  be  the 
antitype  of  the  priesthood,  as  well  as  of  the  tabernacle 
itself.  The  symbolic  priesthood  represents  fellowship 
between  God  and  man ;  and  no  closer  fellowship  between 
God  and  man  is  conceivable  than  must  exist  in  the  case 
of  an  incarnation.  The  man  in  whom  God  incarnates 
himself  may  say,  "  I  and  the  Father  are  one,"  with 
deeper  significance  than  any  of  his  brethren  of  the 
human  family.  But  as  the  tabernacle  typified  not  only 
the  one  man  in  whom  God  becomes  united  to  humanity, 
but  also  the  union  of  multitudes  of  men  in  that  Media- 
tor for  a  habitation  of  God,  the  symbolic  priesthood 
requires  in  its  homologue  the  admission  of  all  the  true 
Israel  to  a  similar  fellowship.  The  edifice  prophesied 
not  only  that  God  would  dwell  in  man,  but  that  the 
whole  people  of  God  would  be  included  in  that  taber- 
nacle of  humanity  which  he  was  to  inhabit.  It  promised 
that  he  would  dwell  with  all  those  who  should  keep  his 
covenant,  and  remember  his  commandments  to  do  them. 
Consequently  the  priesthood  of  the  person  in  whom 
God  was  to  become  manifest  in  the  flesh,  implied  the 
priesthood  of  all  who  should  become  incorporated  into 
him  to  form  the  spiritual  habitation  of  God.  If  he  was 
chosen,  they  were  chosen  in  him  \  if  he  was  holy,  they 
were  called  to  be  holy ;  if  he  was  a  son,  they  were  also 
children  ;  if  he  had  access,  they  might  draw  near  to  the 
Father. 

But  as  the  people  of  God  could  be  built  into  the  spir- 
itual temple  only  as  they  became  united  to  the  man 
in  whom  God  was  incarnate,  and  as  God  could  dwell  in 
them  only  as  he  .dwelt  in  the  Mediator,  their  fellowship 


PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS  OR    TYPES.  409 

with  him,  though  of  a  similar,  might  not  be  of  the 
same  nature.  In  Emmanuel,  God  was  to  be  united  to 
man  in  a  personal  union ;  but  he  was  to  be  united 
to  other  men  only  mediately  through  Emmanuel ;  and 
this  difference  of  union  might  be  expected  to  effect  some 
diversity  in  the  mode  and  degree  of  his  fellowship  with 
them.  Such  a  diversity  was  foreshadowed  not  only 
in  the  subordinate  relation  of  the  planks  of  acacia  to 
the  edifice  into  which  they  were  incorporated,  but  in  the 
subordination  of  the  priestly  nation  to  the  family  of 
Aaron.  The  Hebrews  were  all  priests,  and  entitled  to 
draw  near  to  God  ;  but  Aaron  and  his  posterity  were 
chosen  to  a  closer  fellowship  than  other  Hebrews.  In 
like  manner  all  Christians  are  children  of  God,  and  as 
such  have  access  to  their  Father ;  but  Christ  is  the  Son 
of  God  in  a  peculiar  sense,  and  as  such  united  to  him  in 
the  closest  union  conceivable. 

The  priesthood  of  the  priestly  nation  was  not  a  type 
in  the  restricted  sense  in  which  we  are  using  the  word ; 
for  it  did  not  foreshadow  any  peculiarity  of  Christianity, 
but  symbolized  what  was  true  alike  before  and  after  the 
advent  of  Christ,  namely,  the  fellowship  to  which  God 
admits  his  people  by  means  of  a  Mediator.  The  priest- 
hood of  the  family  of  Aaron,  however,  was  prophetic  in 
its  symbolism,  representing  that  which  was  yet  future, 
and  contingent  on  the  appearance  of  the  person  sym- 
bolized. The  expiation  wrought  by  them  in  symbol 
foretold  an  efficient  expiation ;  and  their  privilege  of 
immediate  access  to  Jehovah,  while  their  brethren  could 
approach  only  through  their  mediation,  symbolized  a 
fellowship  with  God  closer  than  that  which  was  sym- 
bolized by  the  priesthood  of  the  nation,  —  closer .  indeed, 

35 


4IO  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

than  was  possible  before  the  incarnation,  and  possible 
now  only  to  the  man  Christ  Jesus. 

It  becomes  necessary,  therefore,  to  examine  in  detail 
the  symbolism  of  the  Hebrew  priesthood,  that  we  may 
discover  wherein  it  was  prophetic.  We  have  already 
interpreted  it  as  representing  the  expiation  of  sin,  and 
the  fellowship  with  God  consequent  thereon.  So  much 
it  represents  before  the  element  of  time  is  taken  into 
account.  But  now  we  propose  to  show  that  it  prefigured 
the  expiation  made  by  Christ,  the  admission  of  those  who 
receive  him  as  their  priest  to  fellowship  with  God  throitgh 
him,  and  the  still  closer  fellowship  between  him  and  the 
Father. 

If,  then,  reversing  the  order  in  which  these  speci- 
fications have  been  mentioned,  we  first  compare  the 
eminence  of  the  sacerdotal  family  above  other  Hebrews 
in  the  privilege  of  access  to  Jehovah  with  the  eminence 
of  Christ  over  Christians  in  union  with  God,  we  find 
that  in  this  respect  the  two  dispensations  are  evidently 
homologous  by  design,  and  that  Mosaism,  in  distinction 
from  Christianity,  has  nothing  which  this  eminence  of 
the  priestly  family  over  the  priestly  nation  could  repre- 
sent. Apart  from  Christianity,  this  eminence  of  Aaron 
is  without  meaning,  but,  as  a  type,  most  expressively 
symbcJlizes  the  peculiar  Sonship  of  Christ  as  it  differs 
from  the  fihal  relation  into  which  he  introduces  those 
that  receive  him.  The  Hebrews  had  access  to  Jehovah 
only  through  the  family  of  Aaron :  so,  in  our  time,  the 
children  of  God  have  fellowship  with  their  Father,  but 
he  comes  to  them  in  Christ,  and  they  approach  him 
through  the  same  Mediator.  Aaron  and  his  family,  on 
the  contrary,  had  no  need  of   a  mediator,  but  entered 


PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS  OR    TYPES.  411 

the  habitation  of  Jehovah  as  members  of  his  household, 
and  were  employed  by  him  as  his  representatives  in 
transacting  with  their  brethren :  so  Christ  enjoys  a 
unique  intimacy  with  the  Father,  and  is  exalted  as 
a  Prince  and  a  Saviour  to  give  repentance  to  Israel,  and 
forgiveness  of  sins. 

But  the  eminence  of  the  Hebrew  priests  above  their 
brethren  corresponds  with  the  eminence  of  Christ  above 
other  children  of  God  in  more  respects  than  that  which 
has  been  mentioned.  All  Hebrews  were  required  to 
keep  themselves  separate  from  unclean  things  as  a 
condition  of  approaching  the  altar ;  but  the  priests  were 
restrained  within  narrower  limits  than  their  brethren,  as 
if  to  symbolize  a  higher  degree  of  holiness ;  and  the 
high-priest  was  still  more  restricted  in  his  liberty  of 
contact  with  the  effects  of  sin,  in  order  to  represent  a 
superlative  sanctity.  This  gradation  in  formal  holiness 
was  doubtless  designed  to  teach  that  ethical  purity  was 
necessary  in  all  who  were  admitted  to  fellowship  with 
God.  It  inculcated  upon  the  Hebrew,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  that  without  holiness  of  heart  and  life  he  could 
not  stand  in  the  filial  relation  to  God,  pictured  in  the 
office  of  the  priesthood.  But  if  the  priesthood  is  not  only 
a  symbol,  but  a  prophetic  symbol,  announcing  beforehand 
the  advent  of  a  man  whose  fellowship  with  God  should 
be  superlatively  intimate,  this  requirement  of  outward 
cleanness  in  the  symbol  does  not  exhaust  its  meaning  in 
declaring  that  all  the  children  of  God  must  be  holy,  but 
includes  in  its  full  significance  a  declaration  that  the 
Son  of  God,  whom  Aaron  and  his  family  foreshadowed, 
would  exemplify  the  superlative  holiness  symbolized  in 
the   chief   of   the   sacerdotal   order.     Auxiliary   to   this 


412  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

representation  that  the  archetypal  priest  would  be  unde- 
filed  with  sin,  was  the  exclusion  from  the  altar  of 
every  descendant  of  Aaron  who  had  any  physical  defect, 
A  Hebrew  priest  could  not  perform  the  functions  of 
his  office  unless  he  was  able  to  typify,  by  means  of  a 
faultless  body,  the  sinlessness  which  was  to  characterize 
the  priest  of  the  new  covenant.  The  representation  of 
Emmanuel's  holiness  was  still  further  cumulative  by 
means  of  the  white  linen  in  the  sacerdotal  garments, 
the  integrity  of  the  several  pieces  woven  without 
seam,  and  no  longer  used  if  rent,  and  the  inscription 
Holiness  to  Jehovah,  with  which  the  chief  of  the 
priesthood  was  crowned.  It  culminated  in  the  sinless- 
ness of  the  high-priest  by  the  expiation  of  his  own  sins, 
before  he  could  officiate  on  the  day  of  atonement  in 
taking  away  the  sins  of  the  people. 

The  dress  of  the  subordinate  priests,  though  chiefly 
suggestive  of  holiness,  contained  in  the  colors  of  the 
girdle,  signs  of  other  attributes  of  the  antitype  ;  but,  as 
the  same  colors  are  found  in  profusion  in  the  costume 
of  the  high-priest,  it  is  preferable  to  pass  at  once  to  the 
garments  worn  by  him  in  addition  to  the  garments  of 
holiness  common  to  him  and  his  subordinates.  Of  the 
vestments  peculiar  to  the  high-priest,  the  first  to  be 
put  on  signified  by  its  color  that  the  holy  person  whom 
the  wearer  typified  was  also  heavenly.  Apart  from  the 
prospective  reference  to  Christ,  it  seems  inappropriate 
and  extravagant  that  the  robe  of  the  ephod  should  be  of 
cerulean  blue  to  the  exclusi6n  of  the  other  colors  of  the 
tabernacle.  The  hue  of  heaven  might  appropriately  be 
mingled  with  the  white,  the  purple,  and  the  red,  as  in 
other  parts  of  the  symbolism,  to  authenticate  a  priest  of 


PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS  OR    TYPES.  413 

earthly  origin  as  a  minister  of  the  heavenly  institution ; 
but  a  robe  of  blue  extending  from  the  neck  to  the  calf  of 
the  leg,  is  more  satisfactorily  emptied  of  its  significance, 
when  we  find  that  it  symbolizes  a  priest  who  is  not 
of  the  earth,  earthy,  but  the  Lord  from  heaven.  The 
ornaments  suspended  from  the  robe  well  accord  with 
such  prospective  reference,  for  they  signify  that  the 
priest  who  is  to  come  from  heaven  will  obey  and  pro- 
claim the  word  of  God. 

The  ephod,  as  a  shoulder-garment  and  girdle,  was 
intrinsically  a  badge  of  rank  and  power  ;  but  its  impress- 
iveness  was  enhanced  to  the  highest  possible  degree  by 
the  splendor  and  symbolic  power  of  the  colors  combined 
in  its  material,  the  beauty  and  significance  of  flowers 
wrought  into  its  web  by  the  skill  of  the  weaver,  and  the 
magnificence  of  the  two  onyx-stones  fixed  upon  its 
shoulder-pieces  as  emblems  of  royalty.  The  colors  were 
all  appropriate  to  the  King  of  Israel  as  holy,  heavenly, 
living,  and  life-imparting ;  but  the  regal  purple  was 
entirely  synonymous  with  the  ephod  itself.  It  set  forth 
to  view  what  was,  indeed,  implied  in  priesthood,  the  high 
rank  and  authority  of  the  person  who  should  be  in  such 
intimate  relation  with  the  king.  A  priest  is  one  who  is 
privileged  to  approach  God  as  a  member  of  his  family, 
and  is  authorized  to  deaf  with  men  in  the  name  of  God. 
The  conception  implies  that  God  is  a  king,  and  that  the 
priest  is  of  the  royal  household.  A  king  might,  indeed, 
receive  into  his  family  as  a  son,  and  employ  in  transac- 
tions with  his  subjects,  a  confidential  officer  who  was  not 
of  his  own  blood  ;  but  the  person  whom  he  would  most 
naturally  appoint  to  approach  unto  him  in  his  habitation, 
and  transact  for  him  with  his  subjects,  is  his  only-begot- 
35* 


414  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

ten  son.  The  conception  can  rise  to  this  ideal,  and  can 
rise  no  higher.  The  purple  of  the  ephod,  as  well  as  the 
ephod  itself,  attributed  to  Christ  a  relation  to  God  similar 
to  that  which  the  beloved  son  of  a  king  sustains  to  his 
father.  It  was  a  sign  that  he  would  enjoy  the  favor  of 
God,  and  be  clothed  with  administrative  authority.  The 
breastplate  attached  to  the  ephod,  had  typical  significance 
which  will  be  more  appropriately  interpreted  hereafter. 
At  present,  we  only  take  notice  of  the  fact  that  it  was 
worn  by  the  high-priest  alone,  and  assisted  to  distinguish 
him  as  superior  to  his  brethren.  Whatever  else  it 
typified,  it  foretold  the  superiority  of  Christ  in  the  king- 
dom of  God,  and,  as  an  attachment  of  the  ephod, 
superiority  by  reason  of  the  office  which  the  ephod  indi- 
cated. The  ephod  as  a  whole  exhausts  the  resources  of 
symbolism  to  express  the  glory  of  Christ. 

As  the  turbans  of  the  subordinate  priests  were  for 
glory  and  beauty,  we  may  infer  that  the  high-priest  wore 
one  of  different  shape  to  indicate  a  still  higher  degree  of 
rank,  and  that  no  other  shape  could  have  exalted  him 
more  than  the  appointed  pattern.  But,  even  if  such  an 
inference  is  of  doubtful  validity,  the  crown  of  gold 
fastened  to  the  turban  was  certainly  a  mark  of  supe- 
riority. In  examining  the  symbolism  of  the  robe  of  the 
ephod,  and  of  the  ephod,  we  were  purposely  silent  con- 
cerning the  ornaments  of  gold  attached  to  both  vest- 
ments, and  the  golden  thread  wrought  into  the  web  of 
the  latter,  that  this  metal  might  be  mentioned  only  once, 
and  in  connection  with  the  turban,  where  its  significance 
culminates  in  a  crown.  Always  in  ancient  time  signifi- 
cant of  high  rank,  it  was  here  specific  in  its  meaning,  de- 
claring the  regal  rank  of  the  priest  as  a  son  of  the  king. 


PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS  OR    TYPES,  415 

The  principal  ceremony  in  the  consecration  of  the 
priests  consisted  in  anointing  them  with  oil ;  the  unction 
being  more  copious  in  the  case  of  Aaron,  because  he  was 
the  chief  of  the  order.  The  ceremony  signifying  in  the 
first  place  that  the  persons  anointed  would  have  the  help 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  discharge  of  official  duty, 
according  to  the  measure  of  their  need,  also  foretold  that 
The  Messiah,  The  Christ,  The  Anointed,  would  be 
likewise  qualified  for  the  work  his  Father  had  given  him 
to  do. 

The  eminence  of  the  Hebrew  priests  over  other 
Hebrews  in  all  these  particulars  typified  the  superiority 
of  Christ  over  his  church.  It  announced  that  they 
should  be  holy,  but  he  immaculate ;  that  they  should  be 
heirs  of  a  heavenly  inheritance,  but  he  the  Lord  from 
heaven,  by  whose  generous  impartation  they  are  co-heirs 
with  him ;  that  they  should  be  children  of  a  king, 
but  he  the  first-born  son ;  that  they  should  possess 
the  prerogatives  of  such  relationship,  but  that  in  all 
things  he  should  have  the  pre-eminence ;  that  they 
should  enjoy  intimacy  with  God,  but  that  he  should  be 
one  with  the  Father  to  a  degree  attainable  by  him  alone ; 
that  they  should  receive  the  Holy  Spirit  to  cheer  and 
strengthen  them  for  their  work,  but  that  he  should  be 
anointed  with  "  the  oil  of  gladness  "  above  his  fellows. 

As  such  eminence  of  Christ  over  his  church  implies 
that  those  for  whom  he  acts  as  priest  partake  with  him, 
in  an  inferior  degree,  of  that  in  which  he  is  their  superior, 
we  need  not  retrace  our  steps  through  the  symbolism  of 
the  priesthood  to  show  how  it  represents  believers  in 
Christ  as  saints,  as  children  of  God,  as  having  access 
to  the  Father,  as  heirs  of  his  kingdom,  as  having  received 


41 6  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

the  Holy  Spirit.  We  will  only  revert  to  that  vestment 
of  the  high-priest  which  was  but  partially  interpreted. 
The  breastplate  is  not  only  a  badge  of  Christ's  supe- 
riority, but  a  sign  that  he  is  superior  for  the  reason  that 
he  can  and  does  elevate  to  a  participation  with  himself 
in  his  regal  dignity  as  the  Son  of  God,  all  those  in  whose 
behalf  he  presents  himself  in  the  presence  of  the  Father. 
As  the  breastplate  represented  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel,  and,  by  its  attachment  to  the  ephod,  the  oneness 
of  Israel  with  Aaron,  so  it  typified  the  church  of  the 
new  covenant,  and  its  participation  with  its  Mediator  in 
all  that  the  ephod  foretold  of  his  glory.  The  symbol 
prophesied  that  Christians  should  be  partakers  with 
Christ  in  his  honors  and  prerogatives,  and  at  the  same 
time  dependent  on  their  union  with  him  for  such  partici- 
pation, —  should  sit  with  him  on  his  throne,  enjoying  in 
the  execution  of  his  will  the  accomplishment  of  their 
own.  In  other  words,  it  signified  that  he  would  give 
power  to  as  many  as  received  him,  to  become  the  sons 
of  God. 

The  New  Testament  teaches  expressly  that  the  Hebrew 
priest,  in  the  atonements  he  made  with  the  blood  of  sacri- 
fices, was  a  type  of  Christ,  taking  away  sin  by  a  homol- 
ogous procedure.  There  is  also  in  the  language  it 
employs  in  describing  the  redemption  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus,  such  a  tang  of  the  Mosaic  symbols  as  reminds  the 
hearer  of  the  place  of  sacrifice,  the  altar,  the  priest, 
the  faultless  lamb,  the  vicarious  death,  and  the  sprinkling 
of  blood.  On  closer  inspection  the  correspondence  is 
found  to  extend  beyond  the  terms  employed  ;  for  the  two 
transactions  resemble  one  another  so  much  in  the  end 
sought,  the  means  used,  and  the  mediatorial  position  of 


PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS  OR    TYPES.  417 

the  expiator,  as  to  justify  the  belief  on  this  ground  alone 
that  the  Levitical  atonement  was  designedly  so  shaped 
as  to  foreshadow  that  of  Christ.  There  was  nothing  in 
Mosaism,  as  distinguished  from  Christianity,  to  which  the 
symbol  could  refer ;  but  it  corresponds  with  the  expiation 
wrought. by  the  High-Priest  of  the  Christian  profession 
as  face  answers  to  face  in  water.  The  typical  signifi- 
cance of  the  Hebrew  priests  as  expiators  cannot  be 
satisfactorily  interpreted,  however,  without  taking  into 
consideration  the  correlative  meaning  of  the  sacrifices 
they  offered.  But  as  the  Scriptures  testify  that  the 
sin-offerings  of  the  tabernacle  were  types  of  the  sacrifice 
which  Christ  offered,  not  less  explicitly  than  that  the 
priesthood  typified  him  as  the  Mediator  appointed  to 
make  expiation  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  we  may  take 
for  granted  that  both  were  typical ;  and,  since  Christ 
obtained  eternal  redemption  for  us  with  his  own  blood, 
that  both  types  found  their  antitypes  in  him.  He  was  \ 
both  priest  and  sacrifice,  and  in  this  double  capacity  was 
the  future  object  symbolized  by  all  the  priests  and  all  the 
sacrifices  of  the  tabernacle.  The  Hebrew  priest,  as 
the  authorized  mediator  between  Jehovah  and  the  person 
who  brought  a  sin-offering,  prefigured  Christ.  ''Presiding 
at  the  sacrifice  as  the  representative  of  the  King  whose 
law  had  been  violated,  the  priest  brought  the  blood,  as  a 
symbol  of  the  life  of  the  person  redeemed  with  the  life 
of  the  sacrificial  animal,  to  the  immediate  presence  of  the 
King,  in  accordance  with  his  direction,  to  signify  that 
the  transgressor  himself  might  now  draw  near ;  and  the 
chief  of  the  order  carried  this  symbolism  to  its  highest 
power  of  expression  when,  once  in  a  year,  he  carried  the 
symbol  of  life  to  the  holiest  spot  of  Jehovah's  dwelling 


4i8  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

wh€re,  if  anywhere,  the  heavenly  King  could  not  be 
approached  by  sinners,  and  there  found  him  on  a  throne 
of  grace  ready  to  forgive  as  soon  as  the  demands  of  jus- 
tice would  permit.  All  this  mediatorial  function  of  the 
priesthood  found  its  antitype  in  Christ ;  who,  having  by 
the  appointment  of  his  Father  obtained  eternal  redemp- 
tion for  us,  entered  into  heaven,  the  greater  and  more 
perfect  dwelling  of  God,  not  with  the  blood  of  bullocks 
and  of  goats,  but  with  his  own  blood.  Type  and  antitype 
are  correspondent  in  ofiEicial  position,  in  the  end  sought, 
and  in  the  means  employed. 

Even  if  the  New  Testament  had  not  so  expressly 
affirmed  that  Christ  is  the  antitype  of  the  Hebrew 
SACRIFICES,  it  might  be  legitimately  inferred  that  he  is, 
from  the  premises  that  the  edifice  of  the  tabernacle 
typified  his  appearance  on  the  earth  as  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh ;  that  its  priesthood  prefigured  his  mediatorial 
work  as  the  Saviour  of  sinners  ;  that  as  a  priest  he  must 
needs  have  somewhat  to  offer ;  and  that,  in  the  ritual 
of  the  symbolic  sacrifices,  there  was  a  representation  of 
God  accepting  sinners  as  deserving  to  live  because 
another  life  had  been  surrendered  instead  of  the  life  of 
the  sinner.  If  Emmanuel  is  to  make  the  sinner's  peace 
with  God  by  the  presentation  of  another  life  surrendered 
instead  of  the  life  of  the  sinner,  whose  life  can  it  be  but 
his  oNvn  .''  If  the  edifice  foretold  the  appearance  of  a  man 
who  should  beihe  tabernacle  of  God,  if  its  priesthood  was 
a  type  of  the  same  man  offering  to  God  a  sin-offering  for 
the  sins  of  the  world,  where  can  we  look  but  to  this 
Divine  Redeemer  himself  for  the  antitype  of  the  sin- 
offering,  and  of  the  symbol  of  life  which  it  furnished  by 


PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS  OR    TYPES.  419 

passing  through  death  ?  Without  an  express  indication 
of  Christ  as  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the 
sin  of  the  world,  we  might  discover  that  the  expiation 
of  which  Moses  wrote  in  the  symbols  of  the  tabernacle, 
was  to  be  accomplished  by  means  of  his  death. 

If  the  tabernacle  was  a  type  of  Emmanuel,  it  follows 
that  its  sacrifices,  as  well  as  its  priesthood,  were  depen- 
dent on  his  appearance  for  the  realization  of  that  which 
they  symbolized.  The  symbolic  atonements  being  per- 
formed in  an  edifice  which  foretold  the  habitation  of 
God  in  man,  the  real  atonement  could  not  take  place 
till  the  temple  of  flesh  which  it  typified  had  been 
prepared.  The  typical  edifice,  however,  as  an  edifice, 
merely  pointed  forward  to  the  advent  of  God  manifest 
in  the  flesh  as  a  necessary  preliminary  to  the  real  expia- 
tion, without  indicating  by  what  means  or  in  what 
manner  sin  was  to  be  covered.  But  the  sacrifices  being 
symbolic,  as  well  as  the  edifice  itself,  furnished  in  their 
symbolism  suggestions  in  regard  to  the  manner  in  which 
sinners  were  to  be  delivered  from  death,  and  become,  as 
if  by  a  new  birth,  sons  of  God.  The  vicarious  death  of 
an  animal  typified  some  other  and  more  worthy  substi- 
tute to  be  provided  by  God  when  he  should  appear  in 
the  flesh  ;  and  the  impossibility  of  finding  such  a  substi- 
tute elsewhere  than  in  Emmanuel  himself  pointed  to 
him  as  the  Lamb  of  God  provided  not  to  expiate  the 
sin  of  an  individual,  but  of  the  world. 

Comparing  the  symbolic  sacrifices  with  the  offering 
which  Christ  made  of  himself,  we  find  that  the  former 
prefigured  the  latter  as  a  gift.  The  Hebrew  who 
sacrificed  gave  something  which  was  his  own  to  God. 
To  bring  to  the  altar  what  did  not  belong  to  him,  would 


420  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

empty  the  rite  of  its  customary  and  appointed  signifi- 
cance. Moreover,  the  Hebrew  was  allowed  to  give  only 
certain  kinds  of  property  to  be  laid  on  the  altar.  The 
gift  must  be  something  which,  if  retained  by  him,  would 
have  been  a  source  of  enjoyment ;  it  must  be  something 
representing  his  life  both  as  a  means  and  an  end.  In 
the  case  of  animal  sacrifices  (and  no  others  could  be 
brought  for  the  remission  of  sin),  a  substitution  was 
represented  by  the  imposition  of  hands  ;  so  that  the  gift 
stood  in  the  place  of  the  giver,  and  died  in  his  stead. 
The  animal  thus  given  as  a  substitute  must  be  in  the 
most  vigorous  period  of  its  life,  and  have  no  defect.  In 
all  these  particulars  Christ  as  a  sacrifice  corresponded 
with  the  symbol.  The  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world,  though  delivered  to  death  in 
accordance  with  the  determinate  counsel  of  God,  and 
slain  by  the  hands  of  wicked  men,  was  not  an  involuntary 
victim,  but  "  has  given  himself  for  us  an  offering  and  a 
sacrifice  to  God."  "  He  loved  the  church,  and  gave 
himself  for  it."  He  gave  himself  to  death  as  a  Hebrew 
devoted  his  lamb,  his  kid,  or  his  bullock.  In  so  doing 
he  realized  the  highest  ideal  of  sacrifice  as  an  act  of 
giving,  surrendering  whatever  there  might  be  to  pursue 
and  to  enjoy  in  life,  as  well  as  life  itself.  He  gave  himself 
to  die  as  the  substitute  or  ransom  of  those  for  whom  he 
was  a  sacrifice.  By  the  fulness  and  vigor  of  his  right- 
eousness, he  was  qualified  thus  to  deliver  sinners  by 
means  of  a  vicarious  death,  since  he  had  no  sins  of  his 
own  for  which  to  answer. 

Every  sacrifice,  of  whatever  kind,  was  a  gift ;  but  the 
burnt-offering  was  eminently  significant  of  giving,  and 
signified  in  particular  self-surrender.     In   this    species, 


PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS  OR    TYPES.  421 

then,  more  than  in  the  others,  we  find  a  type  of  Chiist's 
sacrifice  as  a  gift  of  himself.  The  Hebrew  gave  the 
domestic  animal  he  had  reared  and  loved,  to  be  wholly 
consumed  on  the  altar ;  and  Christ  unreservedly  devoted 
himself,  saying  in  effect.  Since  the  symbol  is  ineffectual 
without  that  which  it  prefigures,  lo,  I  come  to  do  thy 
will,  O  God.  But,  if  the  burnt-offering  was  peculiarly 
representative  of  Christ's  devotion  of  himself,  every 
other  species  was  also  in  some  way  peculiarly  significant. 
The  food-offering,  for  example,  accompanying  a  holo- 
caust to  signify  that  the  offerer's  gift  of  himself  included 
the  consecration  of  his  labor,  foretold,  as  a  prophetic 
symbol,  that  Christ  would  not  only  surrender  his  life,  but 
diligently  engage  in  whatever  activity  his  office  might 
require.  The  sin-offering  was  a  type  of  Christ  dying 
for  sinners,  that  they,  constructively  dying  with  him  in 
his  death,  might  actually  live  with  him  in  his  resumption 
of  life.  The  peace-offerings,  which  furnished  to  the 
people  of  the  old  covenant  means  of  fellowship  with 
God,  find  their  antitype  in  the  one  offering  whose  flesh 
has  feasted  more  of  the  children  of  God  than  any  sym- 
bolic sacrifice,  and  with  more  satisfying  food. 

The  prominence  given  in  the  New  Testament  to  the 
death  of  Christ  as  a  sacrifice  for  sin,  requires  a  more 
comprehensive  examination  of  the  Mosaic  sin-offering, 
with  reference  to  its  typical  relation  to  that  event,  than 
it  is  necessary  to  apply  to  the  other  species.  We  quit 
them,  therefore,  after  the  brief  indication  given  in  the 
last  paragraph  of  their  typical  significance,  to  compare 
the  Hebrew  sin-offering  with  its  Christian  antitype. 

The  symbolic  sin-offering  prefigured,  in  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  offered,  the  death  of  Christ.  The  cover- 
36 


422  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

ing  of  sin  was  the  end  to  be  secured  by  means  of  the 
Mosaic  sin-offering ;  and  Christ  died  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. From  the  later  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  it  is 
evident  that  the  inspired  men  who  wrote  them  expected 
that  Messiah  would  die  for  the  expiation  of  sin,  as  the 
lamb  of  a  sin-offering  was  slaughtered  for  that  purpose  at 
the  side  of  the  altar.^  The  writers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment say  of  Christ  that  God  hath  set  him  forth  "  to  be  a 
propitiation  through  faith  in  his  blood  ; "  ^  that  "  he  is  the 
propitiation  for  our  sins,  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  also 
for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world  ;  "  ^  that  "  while  we  were 
yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us  ;  "  *  that  "  he  died  for  the 
ungodly ; "  ^  that  "  he  died  for  all ;  "  ^  that  "  he  died  for 
our  sins  ;  "  "  that  "  we  have  redemption  through  his 
blood,  even  the  forgiveness  of  sins  ; "  ^  that  we  were 
"  redeemed  with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ,  as  of  a 
lamb  without  blemish  and  without  spot ; "  ^  that  "  he 
washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood  ;•"  ^"^  that  "  his 
blood  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin  ;  "  ^^  that  "  we  are  sancti- 
fied through  the  offering  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  once 
for  all ; "  ^'^  that  "  he  was  manifested  to  take  away  our 
sins ; "  ^^  that  "  he  is  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world  ; "  ^^  that  "  he  bare  our  sins  in 
his  own  body  on  the  tree  ;  "  ^^  that  "  he  was  once  offered 
to  bear  the  sins  of  many  ;  "  ^^  and  by  so  doing  manifest 
their  opinion  that  the  death  of  Christ  corresponded  in 

1  Isaiah  (ch.  liii.)  not  only  predicts  that  Messiah  will  die  as  an  expiatory  sacrifice 

but,  in  amplifying  his  subject,  employs  in  detail  technical  terms  applicable  only  to 
a  sin-offering. 

2  Rom.  iii.  25.                3  i  John  ii.  2.  4  Rom.  v.  8. 

S  Rom.  V.  6.                  62  Cor.  v.  15.  T  i  Cor.  xv.  3. 

8  Col.  i.  14.                    9  I  Pet.  i.  19.  10  Rev.  i.  5. 

11  I  John  i.  7.                12  Heb.  x.  10.  13  i  John  iii.  5. 

14  John  i.  29.                 15  I  Pet.  ii.  24.  16  Heb.  ix.  28. 


PROPHETIC  SYMBOI^S  OR    TYPES.  423 

its  purpose  with  the  sin-offerings  prescribed  by  the  law 
of  Moses. 

The  sprinkHng  of  blood  in  the  ritual  of  the  sin-offering 
prefigured  the  presentation  before  the  Father  of  those 
whom  Christ  redeemed  with  his  life,  as  deserving  to  live 
on  account  of  his  vicarious  death,  and  the  Father's 
acceptance  of  the  plea.  Apart  from  its  typical  reference 
to  Christ,  the  presentation  of  the  blood  of  the  animal  to 
Jehovah  by  his  direction,  in  the  place  where  he  dwelt 
with  his  people,  symbolized  the  restoration  to  filial 
privileges  of  the  person  who,  having  vicariously  died  in 
the  death  of  the  sin-offering,  has  by  that  means  risen 
again  to  a  new  life,  in  which  he  is  allowed  to  be  intimate 
with  God.  The  blood  as  a  symbol  of  life  was  a  sign 
that  the  person  for  whom  it  had  been  shed  was  alive 
unto  God.  As  a  type,  however,  it  signified  more  than 
as  a  mere  symbol.  As  a  symbol  of  the  life  of  the  animal, 
it  had  no  meaning  except  as  transferred  from  the  proxy 
to  the  principal :  as  a  type,  it  was  capable  of  a  broader 
significance ;  for  as  the  Lamb  of  God,  though  truly  dying 
for  sinners,  could  not  be  holden  by  death,  since  he  is 
divine  as  well  as  human,  the  blood  of  every  symbolic 
sacrifice  typified  the  life  of  the  Redeemer,  as  well  as  of 
the  redeemed.  In  the  archetypal  sacrifice,  the  principal 
and  the  proxy  are  one  not  only  in  the  sacrificial  death, 
but  in  the  resurrection.  It  was  because  the  Lamb  of 
God,  though  slain,  still  lived  that  his  death  availed  to 
redeem,  those  for  whom  he  died.  A  mere  animal  or  a 
mere  man  would  have  been  an  insufficient  ransom.  The 
exigency  required  a  Redeemer  who  could  not  die  except 
by  his  own  voluntary  submission,  and,  having  thus  died, 
could  not  be   holden  in  death.     Only  by  the   vicarious 


424  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

death  of  such  a  Lamb  could  sinners  rise  to  a  life  of 
acceptance  and  fellowship  with  God.  In  his  life  they 
live  :  if  he  is  not  risen,  his  death  was  an  insufficient 
ransom,  and  they  are  yet  under  condemnation.  But  the 
new  life  of  the  proxy,  as  well  as  of  the  principal,  was 
typified  by  the  blood  of  the  symbolic  sacrifices  presented 
before  Jehovah.  Perhaps  we  might  more  accurately  say 
that  the  blood  typified  the  life  of  the  mystic  body  of 
which  the  Redeemer  is  the  head,  and  every  believer  is  a 
member ;  for  the  life  of  the  redeemed  is  an  organic  life, 
derived  from  and  inseparable  from  the  life  of  Emmanuel. 
In  Christ,  and  in  Christ  only,  has  the  blood  of  the  Mosaic 
sin-offering  found  its  significance  exhausted.  It  was  a 
sign  that  he  should  not  only  die,  but  live  again,  and  that 
his  church,  redeemed  by  the  surrender  of  his  life,  should 
live  with  him. 

The  Mosaic  sin-offering  prefigures,  in  its  siLbstitution 
of  one  life  for  anotJier,  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.  By 
divine  direction  the  offerer  brought  a  lamb  to  the  priest, 
and  by  the  imposition  of  hands  imparted  to  it  the  power 
to  be  his  representative,  and  die  in  his  stead :  its  blood 
was  accordingly  received  and  acknowledged  by  Jehovah 
as  the  blood,  or  life  of  a  person  who,  having  transgressed 
the  law,  had  satisfied  its  penal  demands,  and  was  there- 
fore entitled  to  live.  By  the  appointment  of  God,  Christ 
was  delivered  for  our  offences,  and  rose  again  for  our 
justification.  Having  died  as  a  sin-offering,  he  resumed 
the  life  he  had  laid  down,  ascended  into  heaven,  and 
there  remains  to  plead  that  those  whom  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  his  Father  he  ransomed  with  his  life,  have  a 
right  to  live.  The  correspondence  is  complete  in  all 
particulars,   except   in    regard    to  the  person  who  pro- 


PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS  OR   TYPES.  425 

vides  the  substitute.  The  Hebrew  was  symboHcally 
redeemed  with  the  blood  of  one  of  his  own  lambs ;  but 
the  animal  was  so  inadequate,  and  the  entire  resources 
of  the  sinner  were  so  inadequate  as  a  price  of  redemp- 
tion, that  faith  in  the  symbolic  sacrifice  must  have  been 
faith  in  it  as  a  symbol  of  an  adequate  substitute  to  be 
provided  by  God.  The  inadequacy  of  the  animal  as  a 
price  of  redemption  showed  that  the  substitution  of  it 
was  only  a  rudiment  of  the  homologous  provision  which 
would  appear  in  the  antitype. 

The  Mosaic  sin-offering,  as  a  manifestation  of  the  jics- 
tice  of  God,  was  a  type  of  Christ's  sacrifice  of  himself. 
The  ritual  of  the  symbolic  expiation  represented  Jeho- 
vah as  a  God  of  justice,  as  well  as  of  grace ;  forgiving 
the  sins  of  his  people,  but  demanding,  as  a  condition  of 
their  justification,  that  the  authority  of  the  violated  law 
should  be  as  fully  sustained  as  if  they  had  suffered  its 
penalty.  The  vindication  of  law  prefigured  in  symbol 
became  a  historic  verity  when  the  blood  of  Christ  was 
shed  for  the  remission  of  sins.  By  virtue  of  the  sin- 
offering  thus  set  forth,  God  could  be  just,  and  justify 
him  that  believeth  in  Jesus. 

The  Mosaic  sin-offering  was  also,  in  its  manifestation 

of  the   love   of  God,  a  type  of  the  sacrifice  of   Christ. 

Its    correspondence  with    its    antitype   in   this   respect 

was    very    imperfect,    but    it    did    nevertheless    reveal 

Jehovah  as  a  God  of  love  ;  for  the  expiation  was  made 

by  his  appointment,  and  the  institution  of  such  a  ritual 

represented  that  he  desired  to  forgive,  and  would  do  so 

when  consistent  with  justice.     Its  symbolism  spoke  not 

only  of  a  vicarious  death  which  would  renderforgiveness 

consistent  with  his  rectitude,  but  of  the  vicarious  death 
36* 


426  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE   TABERNACLE. 

of  such  a  substitute  as  he  only  could  provide.  The 
symbol  was,  indeed,  as  a  manifestation  of  love,  but  a 
rudiment  in  comparison  with  the  sacrifice  it  prefigured ; 
for  the  cross  of  Christ  reveals  that  God  so  loved  the 
world  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  him  shall  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life. 

The  Mosaic  sin-offering,  in  its  influence  on  the  person 
expiated,  also  prefigured  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.  It 
comforted  the  penitent  Hebrew  with  the  assurance  of 
forgiveness,  inspired  him  with  courage  and  strength  for 
present  duties,  and  brightened  his  future  with  the  hope 
of  salvation.  In  like  manner  the  cross  of  Christ 
imparts  to  the  believer  comfort,  courage,  strength,  and 
hope. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

EXTENT   TO   WHICH   THE    HEBREWS    COMPREHENDED    THE 
SIGNIFICANCE    OF    THE    TABERNACLE. 

The  tabernacle,  as  a  representation  of  the  system  of 
religious  truth  revealed  through  Moses,  was  designed  for 
the  instruction  of  the  whole  people.  There  was  no 
esoteric  class,  as  there  was  among  the  Egyptians,  having 
exclusive  possession  of  the  key  of  knowledge,  but  all  the 
holy  nation  were  allowed  and  encouraged  to  study 
the  oracles  of  God  committed  to  them  in  the  symbolic 
institutions.  But  though  the  symbols  were  designed  for 
the  instruction  of  all,  and  were  intelligible  in  some 
degree  to  the  poorest  in  intellectual  endowments  and 
acquisitions,  even  the  wisest  must  have  failed  to  see  the 
whole  truth  represented.  With  equal  desire  to  learn, 
and  equal  diligence  in  study,  there  would  be  different 
degrees  of  attainment ;  but  the  foremost  of  all  would 
find  the  limit  of  his  capacity  before  he  had  seen  in  the 
symbols  all  they  imported  to  their  Author  ;  if  for  no 
other  reason,  because,  as  the  tabernacle  symbolized  the 
habitation  of  the  Infinite  One  with  men,  only  infinite 
intelligence  could  completely  comprehend  such  a  propo- 
sition. A  revelation  of  God,  natural  or  supernatural, 
requires  men  to  think  of  a  Being  who  transcends  the 

limit  of  human  thought ;  and  the  revelation  conveyed  by 

427 


428  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

the  symbols  of  the  tabernacle  was  no  exception  to  the 
rule. 

Other  causes  besides  the  finite  nature  of  man  limited 
the  ability  of  the  Hebrew  to  read  the  symbols  of  the 
tabernacle.  So  far  as  they  were  prophetic,  it  was  not 
designed  that  they  should  convey  their  significance  as 
clearly  before  the  prophecy  was  fulfilled  as  afterward. 
Obscurity  covered  the  types  of  the  tabernacle  with  a 
veil,  as  clouds  sometimes  obscure  the  sun.  This 
obscurity  was  not  so  thick  as  to  conceal  the  meaning 
of  the  types  from  all,  but  was  so  graduated  as  to  furnish 
a  test  of  character,  allowing  those  who,  from  sympathy 
with  the  Author  of  the  symbolic  system,  earnestly 
desired  to  know  his  meaning,  to  discover  it  through  the 
veil,  and  at  the  same  time  hiding  it  from  those  who 
were  indifferent  or  prejudiced.  For  example:  there  were 
in  the  symbolic  priesthood  and  sacrifices,  intimations 
that  Messiah  would  be  the  true  Expiator  and  the  true 
expiation ;  but  these  intimations  were  discovered  only  by 
persons  who  were  spiritual,  in  distinction  from  worldly. 
Such  persons  endeavored  to  look  through  the  visible  things 
of  the  tabernacle  to  the  invisible  things  portrayed.  They 
were  sensitive  in  regard  to  sin,  and  longed  for  the  salva- 
tion and  the  Saviour  promised  in  the  symbols.  They 
earnestly  desired  that  Jehovah  should  forgive,  and  do  it 
consistently  with  rectitude.  With  such  feelings,  they 
were  more  easily  led  to  appreciate  the  typology  of  the 
priesthood,  and  of  the  sin-offering,  than  persons  who 
cared  for  none  of  these  things. 

An  apostle  attributes  to  such  subjective  differences, 
the  opposite  opinions  of  the  contemporaries  of  Jesus  in 
regard  to  his  claim  to  the  Messiahship.     The  worldly, 


HOW  FAR   COMPREHENDED  BY  HEBREWS.      429 

through  indifference  to  the  evil  of  sin,  and  hostility  to 
God's  method  of  expiating  it,  had  overlooked  the  predic- 
tions that  Messiah  would  die  as  an  offering  for  sin.  In 
their  pride  of  race,  they  fixed  their  attention  on  the 
prophecies  concerning  Messiah  as  a  king,  and  would 
listen  to  no  intimations  which  seemed  to  detract  from 
the  grandeur  of  his  regal  state.  Consequently,  they 
set  their  wisdom  against  the  hidden  wisdom  of  God, 
which  if  they  had  known,  they  would  not  have  crucified 
the  Lord  of  glory.  Even  when  the  true  interpretation 
was  pointed  out  by  the  apostle,  they  rejected  it,  for  the 
reason  that  nothing  in  the  state  of  their  feelings  taught 
them  the  need  of  a  suffering  and  dying  Messiah.  Such 
an  interpretation  as  made  their  sacrifices  and  their 
priests  prefigure  Jesus  of  Nazareth  and  him  crucified, 
was  foolishness  to  their  apprehension,  because  they 
lacked  the  spirituality  which  appreciates  the  cross  as  a 
remedy  for  sin.^ 

The  veil  of  obscurity  which  covered  the  prophetic 
symbols  not  only  permitted  the  worldly  to  live  in  igno- 
rance of  that  which  the  spiritual  discovered,  but  concealed 
even  from  the  latter  class  much  of  the  significance  which 
the  types  are  seen  to  contain  when  examined  in  the  light 
of  subsequent  history.  We  may  believe  that  Moses,  as  a 
man  of  spirituality,  discovered  in  the  symbols  of  the 
tabernacle  prophecies  of  the  one  sacrifice  and  the  one 
priest  whom  they  symbolized  ;  but  we  cannot  believe 
that  by  any  thing  short  of  a  supernatural  communication 
he  could  acquire  so  clear  and  comprehensive  a  conception 
of  the  historical  Christ  as  is  vouchsafed  to  those  who 
live  under  the  new  covenant.     He  doubtless,  like  other 

1  I  Cor.  ii.  6-16. 


430  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,  searched  diligently  to 
know  the  full  meaning  of  the  prophecies  which  God 
communicated  through  him,  and  the  time  of  their  fulfil- 
ment ;  perhaps  he  learned  all  which  could  then  be 
learned  from  the  prophecies  themselves  :  but  the  prophe- 
cies did  not  attempt  to  reveal  Christ  to  the  ancient 
Hebrews  as  clearly  and  fully  as  he  has  been  revealed  in 
history.  The  degree  of  obscurity  necessary  as  a  test  of 
character,  and  as  a  condition  of  securing  the  fulfilment, 
by  means  of  wicked  hands,  of  the  determinate  counsel  of 
God,  rendered  it  impossible  to  take  away,  entirely,  even 
from  the  most  spiritual  of  the  Hebrews,  the  veil  which 
ordinarily  covers  the  future. 

Could  the  Hebrews,  then,  read  the  symbols  of  the 
tabernacle  with  no  other  limitations  than  are  imposed  by 
the  finite  nature  of  man,  and  the  necessity  of  concealing 
from  him  the  future  .■*  The  question  admits  of  different 
answers  according  as  it  is  understood  to  ask  whether  he 
was  able  to  master  the  national  symbolism  so  as  to  see 
in  it  all  the  significance  it  was  designed  to  convey,  or 
whether  he  had  actually  done  so.  In  answer  to  the  first 
of  these  questions,  it  may  be  maintained  that  religious 
truth  could  be  communicated  as  intelligibly  through 
symbols  as  by  alphabetic  writing.  Doubtless,  some 
modern  languages  would  be  superior  for  such  a  purpose 
to  any  system  of  symbolization ;  but  the  thesis  is,  that 
the  Hebrew  symbolism  was  equal  to  Hebrew  manuscript 
as  a  vehicle  of  such  ideas  as  were  taught  in  Mosaism, 
What  is  there,  then,  in  the  characters  of  the  alphabet 
to  render  them  more  apt  for  the  inculcation  of  religious 
truth  than  the  visible  objects  men  have  learned  from 
nature,  or  from  one   another,  to   regard  as  symbols  of 


HOW  FAR   COAfPREHENDED  BY  HEBREWS.      431 

things  which  cannot  be  seen  ?  An  alphabet  is  itself  a 
system  of  symbols,  and  differs  from  the  religious  symbol- 
ism of  antiquity  in  employing  signs  arbitrarily  chosen, 
rather  than  such  as  have  an  antecedent  correspondence 
with  the  things  signified.  The  more  numerous  combina- 
tions for  which  it  provides  may  render  it  capable  of 
exhibiting  religious  truth  with  more  fulness  of  detail,  and 
exactness  of  representation,  to  a  people  who  have  long 
employed  it  for  such  and  similar  purposes  ;  but  the 
Hebrew  tongue  was  spoken  by  a  people  who  never 
achieved  more  than  scanty  progress  in  literature,  and  at 
the  time  of  the  exodus  were  generally  unable  to  write  or 
read.  For  such  improvement  in  its  capability  of  express- 
ing thought  as  it  gradually  attained  after  the  settlement 
in  Canaan,  it  was  largely  indebted  to  the  symbolism  of 
the  national  worship,  which  enabled  poets  and  prophets 
to  transfer  the  names  of  symbols  to  correspondent  ideas 
in  the  realm  of  the  invisible. 

Symbolism,  being  in  itself  not  inferior  to  manuscript 
as  an  instrument,  was  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  stage  of 
development  which  the  Hebrews  had  reached.  A  higher 
degree  of  literary  culture  would  have  dwarfed  the  faculty 
of  intuition  which  enabled  them  to  interpret  it  with  ease 
and  pleasure.  In  the  ability  to  interpret  symbolism,  they 
were  superior  to  the  most  cultivated  nations  of  modern 
times  by  reason  of  their  quick-sightedness  in  discerning 
correspondences  between  the  visible  and  the  invisible. 
A  natural  aptitude  for  reading  symbolism  would  of  course 
increase  by  use  ;  and  the  presence  of  such  a  system  as 
confronted  the  Hebrews  from  childhood  onward  to  the  end 
of  life  must  have  educated  them  to  a  far  higher  ability 
than  they  had  received  by  natural  endowment :  so  that 


432  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

we  may  conclude  that  they  were  as  well  able  to  interpret 
the  tabernacle  as  the  people  of  modern  times  the  printed 
pages  of  the  New  Testament. 

The  conditions  which  limited  the  Hebrew  were  such 
as  restrict  the  Christian  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptures.  Mosaism,  as  exhibited  in  the  symbolism  of 
the  tabernacle,  not  only  presented  ideas  which  in  them- 
selves surpass  the  power  of  man  to  receive  in  their 
completeness,  but  was  so  large  in  its  scope,  and  so 
comprehensive  in  its  details,  that  none  could  completely 
master  the  subject,  and  see  in  every  symbol  the  fulness 
of  meaning  it  would  reveal  if  made  a  special  study.  A 
narrower  precinct  than  that  which  confines  one  to 
the  knowable,  limited  every  individual  Hebrew  in  the 
interpretation  of  the  tabernacle.  Christian  theologians 
do  not  claim  that  they  have  seen  the  full  significance  of 
the  Scriptures.  Some  of  them  have  made  a  specialty 
of  a  particular  book,  and,  after  all  their  studies,  would 
doubtless  admit  that  more  light  might  still  be  thrown 
upon  the  small  field  they  have  spent  years  to  investigate. 
Probably  no  devout  Hebrew  supposed  he  had  exhausted 
even  a  small  segment  of  the  symbolism  by  means  of 
which  Jehovah  had  chosen  to  make  known  his  ways. 
Surely  no  one  pretended  that  he  could  survey  the  whole 
system  with  particularity  and  exactness  of  knowledge. 
Every  student,  however  diligent,  would  find,  sooner  or 
later,  in  the  limitation  of  his  own  individual  intellect,  a 
limit  to  his  ability  to  interpret  the  tabernacle. 

The  Hebrew  was  also  limited,  in  his  ability  to  read  the 
symbolism  of  the  tabernacle,  according  to  his  opportu- 
nities for  study.  The  majority  were  much  occupied  with 
the  cares  of  life,  and  received  religious  instruction  chiefly 


HO IV  FAR   COMPREHENDED  BY  HEBREWS.      433 

from  the  lips  of  those  who  had  more  leisure  to  study. 
As  early  as  the  time  of  Moses,  we  find  the  tribe  of  Levi 
charged  with  the  duty  of  teaching ;  ^  and  there  are 
records  concerning  the  reigns  of  Jehoshaphat  and  Josiah 
which  imply  that  teaching  was  still  a  function  of  the 
tribe.^  Naturally,  the  Levites  would  be  in  advance  of 
men  of  other  tribes  in  the  knowledge  of  the  national 
symbolism  for  the  same  reason  that  Christian  teachers 
usually  understand  the  Scriptures  better  than  those 
whom  they  instruct. 

The  most  important  condition  which  limited  the 
Hebrew  in  his  interpretation  of  the  tabernacle  was 
the  measure  of  his  spirituality.  A  worldly-minded  man, 
however  powerful  and  active  his  intellect,  cannot  know 
the  things  of  God  ;  for,  being  spiritually  discerned,  they 
can  be  revealed  only  to  the  spiritual.  One  who  loves  the 
truth  so  far  as  already  discovered,  and  allows  it  to  enter 
into  his  experience,  is  in  the  attitude  requisite  for 
learning  ;  but  he  who  holds  the  truth  in  unrighteousness 
labors  under  a  disadvantage  in  the  prosecution  of  further 
inquiry  similar  to  that  under  which  a  deaf  man  studies 
music,  or  a  blind  man  the  harmony  of  colors.  Never 
having  experienced  godly  sorrow  for  sin,  he  cannot 
comprehend  it ;  never  having  felt  the  grateful  love  of 
those  who  have  been  forgiven,  he  cannot  appreciate  as 
they  do  the  wonderful  love  which  expiates  sin. 

The  ability  of  the  Hebrews  to  interpret  the  tabernacle 
being  subject  to  conditions  such  as  limit  Christians  in 
the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  we  may  infer  that  the 
extent  to  which  the  significance  of  the  tabernacle  was 
actually  comprehended,  as  compared  with  the  extent  to 

Deut.  xxxiii,  10.  2  2  Chron.  xvii.  9,  xxxv.  3. 

37 


434  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

which  it  was  possible  to  discover  it,  did  not  differ  much 
in  ratio  from  the  measure  of  spiritual  understanding  in 
the  knowledge  of  Christ  to  which  men  in  modern  times 
attain  by  means  of  the  New  Testament,  as  compared 
with  the  measure  which  is  attainable.  They  were 
subject,  as  we  are,  to  intellectual,  circumstantial,  and 
spiritual  limitations  ;  and  none  of  them  fully  compre- 
hended the  meaning  of  their  oracle.  There  were  all 
degrees  of  attainment  among  them  ;  the  most  ignorant 
and  carnal  perceiving  almost  nothing  beyond  what  they 
could  see  with  the  natural  eye,  and  a  few  of  the  most 
intelligent  and  spiritual  discerning  Christ  almost  as 
clearly  as  if  they  had  lived  some  centuries  later,  and  with 
the  same  receptivity  had  compared  the  symbols  of  the 
tabernacle  with  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.^ 

1  Schottgen  (Horae  Hebraicae  et  Talmudicae,  vol.  ii.)  has  culled  from 
Hebrew  writers,  some  living  before,  and  some  very  soon  after  the  Christian  ei^a,  a 
multitude  of  passages  in  regard  to  the  Messiah,  some  of  which  are  strangely  like 
Christian  utterances.  These  quotations  show  that,  whatever  different  opinions 
may  have  been  in  the  ascendant,  individuals  believed  that  the  Messiah  would  suffer 
(pp.  550  et  seq.),  would  die  {p.  557),  that  he  would  die  at  the  time  of  the  passover, 
(p.  558),  that  he  would  rise  from  the  dead  (p.  565),  that  the  holy  dead  would  rise 
with  him  (p.  571),  that  he  would  ascend  into  heaven  (p.  596),  and  that  he  would 
take  away  the  sins  of  the  Hebrews  (p.  653).  Eisenmenger  (Entdecktes  Juden- 
thum)  has  made  a  similar  collection.  One  of  his  quotations  reads,  "  He  [Messiah] 
will  offer  up  himself,  and  pour  out  his  soul  unto  death,  and  his  blood  will  expiate 
the  people  of  God."     (Vol.  ii.  p.  721.) 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

STUDY  OF  THE  TABERNACLE  IMPORTANT  TO  CHRISTIANS. 

The  sacred  tabernacle  of  the  Hebrews,  though  super- 
seded by  the  tabernacle  of  flesh  which  it  adumbrated, 
is  even  now  worthy  of  attention.  A  man  does  not  for- 
get his  childhood,  nor  despise  its  lessons,  because  he 
has  arrived  at  maturity ;  neither  should  he  contemn 
the  beginnings  of  revelation  because  he  lives  when  the 
Light  of  the  World  has  risen  above  the  horizon.  The 
student  of  nature,  however  familiar  with  her  face  as  it 
appears  by  day,  might  discover  new  expressions  if  he 
should  gaze  on  it  when  the  morning  star  is  still  visible 
in  the  east ;  and  in  like  manner  we  may  discover,  if  we 
go  back  to  the  twilight  of  revelation,  some  truths  which 
have  been  concealed,  as  the  stars  at  noon,  by  the  bright- 
ness of  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  or  see  familiar  truths 
in  new  forms,  as  one  sees  mountains  which  at  evening 
stood  with  distinct  outline  in  front  of  the  western  sky 
appearing  in  the  early  dawn  as  shapeless  masses  of  cloud. 
If  nature  should  be  studied  in  all  her  varying  aspects, 
so  should  revelation ;  for  as  the  world  is  one  whether 
seen  by  day  or  night,  in  summer  or  winter,  so  it  is  one 
and  the  same  God  who  of  old  dwelt  between  the  cheru- 
bim, and  now  is  in  Christ. 

As  a  revelation  of  the  same  God  who  is  revealed  in 

435 


436  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

Christ,  the  tabernacle  would  be  an  object  of  interest  to 
the  Christian  even  if  its  symbolism  related  to  other 
attributes  than  those  manifested  in  Christ,  and  other 
works  than  the  work  of  redemption.  The  Christian  is 
interested  in  nature  because  as  a  creation  it  speaks  to 
him  of  the  wisdom  which  designed,  and  the  power  which 
produced  it,  and  thus  aids  him  to  a  better  acquaintance 
with  God.  Love  neglects  nothing  which  proceeds  from, 
and  is  a  manifestation  of,  the  person  who  is  its  object ; 
and  the  Christian  consequently  would  be  interested  in 
the  tabernacle  as  a  work  of  God  if,  instead  of  being 
coincident  with  Christianity  in  the  scope  of  its  revela- 
tion, it  reflected  such  attributes  of  God  as  are  mirrored 
in  nature.  But  the  tabernacle  was  a  revelation  of  love, 
a  representation  of  God  coming  down  from  heaven 
and  dwelling  with  men  as  their  Saviour,  a  prefiguration 
of  the  Emmanuel  through  whom  the  Christian  has 
fellowship  with  God  ;  and  as  revealing  not  only  the  God 
they  love,  but  the  attributes  of  God  they  most  delight 
in,  is  even  now,  when  it  exists  only  in  history,  an  object 
of  interest  to  those  who  would  acquaint  themselves  as 
much  as  possible  with  their  Father  in  heaven. 

Even  if  the  Christian  should  find  nothing  in  the 
tabernacle  which  he  had  not  previously  learned  from 
the  New  Testament,  he  could  not  fail  to  be  interested 
in  a  different  mode  of  presenting  the  same  truths.  The 
symbols  of  the  tabernacle  would  still  be  what  the  engrav- 
ings in  a  Bible  are  to  a  child,  helps  to  the  vivid  appre- 
hension of  the  written  word.  They  are  the  pictorial 
illustrations  of  the  gospel  forming  images  in  the  mind 
of  the  reader  more  distinct  than  his  own  imagination 
could  construct,  and  thus  aiding  him  to  perceive  as  real, 


STUDY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE  IMPORTANT.      437 

the  realities  of  which  the  gospel  testifies.  We  succeed 
in  bringing  the  invisible  God  within  the  sphere  of  our 
conception,  so  that  he  seems  a  real,  living  person,  by 
looking  at  Christ  as  his  image ;  and,  in  like  manner, 
by  attending  to  the  symbolism  of  the  tabernacle,  we  may 
acquire  a  livelier  apprehension  of  such  realities  as  sin, 
expiation,  fatherhood,  and  sonship. 

The  symbols  of  the  tabernacle  are  interesting  also  as 
belonging  to  the  history  of  redemption,  and  thus  con- 
tributing to  a  comprehensive  knowledge  of  what  it  is  ; 
for  redemption  does  not  consist  in  general  truths,  but  in 
things  done.  It  is  a  subject  for  the  historian,  rather 
than  for  the  speculative  philosopher.  Redemption  is  a 
fact,  or  rather,  a  long  series  of  facts ;  and  the  existence 
of  the  tabernacle  is  part  of  its  history  as  truly  as  is  the 
life  of  Christ.  Every  fact  in  the  history  is  precious, 
since  it  may  contribute  to  our  knowledge  of  what  the 
plan  of  redemption  is  as  a  revelation  of  God,  or  as  an 
influence  on  the  character  and  condition  of  men.  The 
gospel  assures  us  that  we  have  been  redeemed  with 
the  blood  of  Chrtst ;  and  we  interpret  the  assurance  in  the 
historic  spirit  which  conceives  of  Mosaism  and  Chris- 
tianity as  parts  of  one  organic  whole.  If,  instead  of 
regarding  the  death  of  Christ  as  a  part  of  the  history 
of  which  the  Hebrew  sin-offering  was  also  a  part,  we 
should  isolate  that  event  from  its  historical  connections, 
we  should  lose  a  most  important  means  of  interpreting 
the  assurances  that  Christ  died  for  us,  and  that  we  have 
redemption  Jhrough  his  blood. 

The  preceding  paragraph  suggests  another  service 
which  the  tabernacle  renders  to  the  student  of  the  New 
Testament.      "  Redemption   through    his    blood  "is    a 

37* 


438  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

phrase  which  Christianity  received  from  Mosaism,  and 
is  to  be  interpreted  in  its  historical  sense.  The  Chris- 
tian who  studies  the  history  of  redemption  from  the 
beginning  becomes  better  quaUfied  to  interpret  the  death 
of  Christ  not  only  by  his  more  comprehensive  knowl- 
edge of  facts,  but  by  his  greater  facilities  for  ascertaining 
the  meaning  of  terms  which  the  symbolic  institutions 
have  supplied  to  Christianity.  The  tabernacle  is  the 
dictionary  in  which  the  Christian  is  to  find  the  authori- 
tative definition  of  such  a  phrase  as  "  redeemed  with 
the  blood  of  Christ ; "  and,  as  the  number  of  terms 
transmitted  from  the  older  to  the  younger  dispensation 
is  by  no  means  small,  he  has  frequent  occasion  to 
invoke  the  aid  of  the  tabernacle  in  the  study  of  the 
gospel. 

But  the  tabernacle,  though  exhibiting  the  same 
kingdom  as  is  proclaimed  in  the  New  Testament, 
presents  it  in  an  earlier  stage  of  its  development.  The 
aspect  of  the  kingdom,  therefore,  is  not  precisely  the 
same  as  in  the  later  delineation.  As  an  edifice  photo- 
graphed at  different  periods  in  the  f)rogress  of  its 
erection  affords  pictures  not  precisely  alike,  so  the 
kingdom  of  God  in  the  time  of  Moses  presents  a 
different  appearance  from  the  same  kingdom  in  the  time 
of  Christ.  It  may  happen,  also,  when  an  edifice  is 
photographed  a  second  time,  that  a  picture  is  produced 
exhibiting  some  parts,  or  some  relations  of  part  to  part, 
not  manifest  in  the  other,  for  the  reason  that  the  view 
was  taken  from  a  different  stand-point.  In  §uch  a  case, 
the  second  picture  will  probably  omit  some  particulars 
shown  in  the  first,  so  that  each  is  a  complement  to 
the  other.     The  New  Testament,  though  portraying  the 


STUDY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE  IMPORTANT.      439 

same  kingdom  as  the  tabernacle,  was  designed  for  men 
of  later  times,  and  of  more  advancement  in  spiritual 
culture.  It  presents,  therefore,  a  view  of  the  kingdom 
slightly  different  from  that  exhibited  in  the  earlier 
dispensation,  because  taken  from  a  stand-point  better 
adapted  to  the  spiritual  condition  of  those  it  addresses. 
For  example  :  the  tabernacle  represents  God  as  the  king 
of  a  family.  The  priests  were  his  household,  in  which 
he  reigned  as  a  monarch.  The  idea  of  fatherhood  was, 
indeed,  represented,  for  it  is  involved  in  that  of  a  family. 
As  sons,  they  were  admitted  to  his  apartments  and 
supplied  with  food  from  his  table.  But  the  idea  of 
kingship  was  much  more  prominent  than  that  of  father- 
hood. The  reverse  is  true  in  the  Christian  conception, 
which,  though  it  by  no  means  robs  God  of  his  kingly 
glory,  mentions  him  more  frequently  as  a  father  than  as 
a  king.  In  this  conception,  he  is  the  Father  of  a 
kingdom,  as,  in  the  earlier,  he  was  the  King  of  a  family. 
The  two  representations  are  equally  correct  copies  of 
the  kingdom  of  God,  and  owe  their  dissimilarity  simply 
to  the  fact  that  the  pictures  were  not  taken  from  the 
same  position. 

Each  of  these  two  conceptions  of  God  is  powerful  in 
its  influence  on  human  character.  To  think  of  God  as 
our  Ruler,  is  to  cultivate  the  conscience  :  to  think  of  him 
as  our  Father,  is  to  cultivate  the  affections.  We  cannot 
afford  to  lose  either  conception,  for  each  contributes 
something  toward  the  knowledge  of  a  Person  who  cannot 
be  described  under  any  one  metaphor  drawn  from  human 
relations,  nor,  indeed,  perfectly  described  under  a 
thousand.  Christianity  has  not  contradicted  the  testi- 
mony of  Mosaism,  that  God  is  a  ruler :  on  the  contrary, 


440  SIGNIFICANCE   OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

the  mode  in  which  it  exhibits  the  fatherhood  of  God 
confirms  the  representation  that  he  is  a  ruler,  for  it  is  by 
saving  men  from  the  sentence  of  his  own  law  that  he 
manifests  his  affection.  But  the  teaching  of  the  New 
Testament  in  regard  to  law  and  sin  is  so  overlaid  with 
its  proclamation  of  love,  that  we  easily  overlook  it,  and 
have  need  of  the  Old  Testament  to  bring  us  to  Christ. 
As  it  was  necessary  that  the  revelation  which  God  made 
of  himself  to  the  Hebrews  should  precede,  in  the  history 
of  the  race,  the  manifestation  of  himself  in  Christ,  so,  in 
the  religious  experience  of  an  individual,  there  must  be 
some  consciousness  of  guilt  before  he  is  prepared  to 
appreciate  the  love  of  God  in  the  expiation  of  sin.  The 
Hebrew  Scriptures  and  the  Hebrew  ritual  are  well  fitted 
to  develop  such  a  consciousness ;  and  history  shows  that 
Christianity  takes  deepest  root  in  individuals,  families, 
and  nations  most  conversant  with  the  Hebrew  concep- 
tion of  God. 

The  tabernacle  is  important  to  the  Christian,  as  it  aids 
in  interpreting  the  symbolism  of  the  New  Testament. 
Christianity  has  its  symbolic  institutions,  as  well  as 
Mosaism,  though  they  are  only  two  in  number.  Our 
Lord,  in  anticipation  of  his  death  as  a  sin-offering, 
directed  that  bread  and  wine  should  be  used  by  his 
disciples  to  symbolize  the  sacrifice  thus  offered.  The 
application  of  water  is  a  natural  sign  of  cleansing  ;  and, 
as  such,  he  directed  it  to  be  used  in  his  church  to 
signify  that  his  people  were  cleansed  from  their  sins. 
The  general  significance  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
supper  being  apparent  in  the  symbolism  itself,  and  in 
words  of  explanation  which  accompany  the  establish- 
ment  or   celebration  of  the   rites,   is   there   any  thing 


STUDY  OF  THE    TABERNACLE  IMPORTANT.      441 

further  to  be  learned  by  comparing  these  transactions 
with  the  symbolism  of  the  tabernacle  ? 

Man  is  prone  to  misuse  the  symbolic  transactions 
appointed  for  his  aid  by  confounding  them  with  the 
truths  symboHzed,  It  is  sufficiently  evident  to  us  who 
live  since  the  advent  of  Christ,  that  the  blood  of  lambs, 
kids,  and  bullocks,  cannot  really  take  away  sin ;  but 
doubtless  many  a  Hebrew  overlooked  the  fact  that  the 
sin-offering  was  a  symbol,  and  rested  in  it  as  an  efficient 
atonement.  Some  Christians  in  like  manner  see  in 
baptism  an  efficient,  instead  of  a  symbolic  cleansing, 
and  in  the  bread  and  wine  of  the  Lord's  supper  an 
efficient  sacrifice  for  sin,  instead  of  symbols  of  the  body 
and  blood  of  our  Redeemer.  This  natural  tendency 
to  confound  the  symbol  with  that  which  it  symbolizes 
has  led  to,  and  strengthened  itself  by  means  of,  a  wrong 
interpretation  of  the  Scriptures.  To  one  who  under- 
stands that  baptism  is  a  symbol,  the  direction,  "  Arise, 
and  be  baptized,  and  wash  away  thy  sins,"  conveys  the 
idea  that  the  washing  with  water  is  the  sign  of  a 
spiritual  transaction  in  which  sin  is  taken  away ;  but  to 
another,  who  overlooks  the  symbolic  nature  of  the  tran- 
saction, it  seems  to  imply  an  efficiency  in  the  rite  itself 
to  cleanse  a  man  from  his  sins.  One  who  understands 
that  the  Lord's  supper  is  a  symbol  interprets  the  decla- 
ration, "  This  is  my  body,"  as  a  definition  of  the  symbol ; 
but  another,  confounding  the  symbol  with  the  thing 
symbolized,  believes  that  our  Lord  intended  to  affirm 
the  identity  of  the  bread  with  his  body.  Now,  the  study 
of  the  tabernacle,  as  it  induces  the  habit  of  discrimi- 
nating between  symbols  and  the  invisible  things  they 
represent,  aids  a  Christian  in  rightly  conceiving  of  bap- 


442  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE    TABERNACLE. 

tism  and  the  Lord's  supper,  and  in  rightly  interpreting 
what  is  written  in  the  Scriptures  in  regard  to  these 
symboHc  institutions. 

In  the  light  derived  from  the  symbolism  of  the 
tabernacle,  the  Lord's  supper  is  seen  to  be  a  symbolic 
memorial  of  the  death  of  Christ ;  the  bread  and  wine 
being  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Lord  in  the  sense  in 
which  white  raiment  is  the  righteousness  of  saints, 
and  vessels  full  of  odors  are  prayers.  As  wine  in  the 
supper  is  the  blood  of  Christ  shed  for  the  remission  of 
sins ;  so  water  in  baptism  is  also  the  blood  of  Christ  as 
applied  to  an  individual  for  the  purpose  of  washing  away 
his  sins. 

There  is  a  noteworthy  difference  between  the  old 
covenant  and  the  new  in  symbolizing  the  remission  of 
sins.  When  the  covenant  was  ratified  at  Sinai,  half  the 
blood  of  sacrifice  was  sprinkled  on  the  people  to  signify 
that  they  were  a  party  to  the  covenant,  as  the  sprinkling 
of  the  other  half  on  the  altar  showed  that  Jehovah  was 
pledged.  But  the  Mosaic  law  made  no  provision  in 
ordinary  cases  for  applying  the  blood  of  expiation  to  the 
transgressor.  He  brought  his  sin-offering ;  and  its  blood 
was  sprinkled  before  Jehovah  to  show  that  his  sacri- 
fice was  accepted,  and  had  accomplished  its  purpose.  As 
the  offering  was  for  him  alone,  there  was  no  occasion 
for  applying  the  blood  to  his  person  to  show  that  it  had 
availed  to  redeem  him  as  an  individual.  Christianity, 
on  the  other  hand,  notwithstanding  the  comparative 
paucity  of  its  symbols,  applies  to  every  believer  a  sign 
that  he  is  personally  interested  in  the  redemption  which 
is  in  Christ  Jesus,  The  propitiation  is  one  and  the 
same  for  all ;  but  each  has,  in  the  application  of  water  to 


STUDY  OF  THE   TABERNACLE  IMPORTANT.      443 

his  own  person  for  the  remission  of  sins,  an  assurance  of 
his  individual  interest  in  the  blood  which  was  shed  for 
many. 

Christianity  has  not  only  symbolic  institutions,  but 
symbolic  writings  ;  and  important  aid  may  be  derived 
from  the  symbolism  of  the  tabernacle  in  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  latter,  as  well  as  of  the  former.  The  Apoca- 
lypse describes  visions  vouchsafed  to  the  writer,  of 
scenes  invisible  to  the  natural  eye  ;  but,  as  the  things  he 
saw  were  symbols,  it  is  only  through  study  of  the 
language  of  symbolism  that  the  significance  of  these 
visions  can  be  apprehended.  Notwithstanding  the  many 
and  diverse  empiric  interpretations  offered,  one  after 
another,  by  persons  seeking  support  in  this  book  for 
opinions  previously  embraced,  and  the  consequent  scep- 
ticism which  prevails  in  regard  to  the  possibility  of 
interpreting  the  visions  otherwise  than  by  conjecture, 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  these  symbols  are 
employed  in  accordance  with  laws  which  rendered  them 
intelligible  to  those  for  whose  immediate  benefit  the 
book  was  written,  and  would  again  reveal  their  meaning 
if  these  laws  could  be  recovered.  Speaking  of  one  of 
the  symbolic  numbers  in  the  Apocalypse,  Semisch  has 
well  said,  "It  is  a  hieroglyphic  which  still  awaits  its 
Champollion  ; "  ^  and  the  same  might  be  said  of  many 
other  symbols,  with  equal  suggestiveness  of  what  may 
come  to  pass  when  the  visions  of  the  Apocalypse  are 
placed  side  by  side  with  the  symbolic  institutions  of  the 
Old  Testament. 

1  Herzog's  Real-Encyklopadie,  B.  II.  s.  659. 


INDEX 


Acacia,  lo. 

Acacia-wood,  significance  of,  233  ;  signifi- 
cance of,  in  the  edifice,  287. 

Altar  of  burnt-offerings,  42  ;  significance  of, 
291. 

Altar  of  incense,  41 ;  significance  of,  305. 

Altars,  significance  of,  289. 

Ancient  symbolism,  177. 

Animal  forms,  significance  of,  256. 

Animals,  significance  of,  24S. 

Ark  of  the  covenant,  31  ;  captured  by  the 
Philistines,  106  ;  restored  by  the  Philis- 
tines, 107  ;  separated  from  the  tabernacle 
for  half  a  century,  107;  at  Beth-shemesh, 
107  ;  at  Kirjath-jearim,  107  ;  at  the  house 
of  Obed-edom,  109  ;  brought  to  Jerusalem, 
109  ;  significance  of,  308. 

Artisans  employed  in  constructing  the  taber- 
nacle, 3. 

Atonement,  the  annual,  92  ;  significance  of 
its  ceremonies,  385. 

Attendants  of  the  tabernacle,  55. 

B 
Bars,  the  horizontal,  14. 
Bells  and  pomegranates  on  the  robe  of  the 

ephod,  significance  of,  334. 
Blood,  significance  of,  222. 
Blue,  significance  of,  211. 
BodUy  soundness  in  the  priests,  significance 

of,  323- 
Bonnets  of  the  priests,  significance  of,  332. 
Bread  and  wine,  significance  of,  235. 
Breastplate  of  judgment,  significance  of,  336. 
Building  of  the  tabernacle  required,  4. 
Burnt-offering,  70  ;  significance  of,  355. 


Calendar,  84  ;  interpretation  of,  371. 

Candlestick,  39  ;  significance  of,  301. 

Cedar-wood,  significance  of,  233. 

Ceremonies  of  consecration  to  the  priest- 
hood, significance  of,  339. 

Cherubs,  18  ;  significance  of,  259 ;  signifi- 
cance of,  in  the  drapery  of  the  edifice, 
2S7. 

Coat,  or  tunic  significance  of,  328. 

Color,  symbolism  of,  209 ;  significance  of 
in  the  edifice,  283. 

Composite  animal  forms,  significance  of, 
256. 

Consecration  of  Aaron  and  his  sons,  50. 

Consecration  of  the  Levites,  52. 

Consecration  of  the  tabernacle,  49. 

Consecration  to  the  priesthood,  significance 
of  ceremonies  at,  339. 

Contributions  for  building,  3, 

Com  and  wine,  significance  of,  235. 

Comer  planks,  13. 

Costume  of  the  priests,  interpretation  of, 
324- 

Costume  of  the  high-priest,  interpretation 
of,  333  ;  on  the  day  of  atonement,  not  to 
be  confounded  with  the  costume  of  a  sub- 
ordinate priest,  339. 

Court,  screen  around,  29  ;  significance  of, 
266. 

Covenant  between  Jehovah  and  the  He- 
brews was  truly  a  covenant,  309. 

Cover  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  signifi- 
cance of,  310. 

Crimson,  significance  of,  217. 

Current  expenses,  115. 

Curtains,  16. 

445 


446 


INDEX. 


Daily  service,  86 ;  significance  of,  372. 

Death,  uncleanness  by  contact  with,  signifi- 
cance of  the  lustration  from,  364. 

Defilement,  ceremonial,  78. 

Defilement  by  contact  with  death,  sigmifi- 
cance  of  the  lustration  from,  364. 

Drink-offerings,  72  ;  significance  of,  357. 

E 

Edifice  of  tabernacle,  g  ;  interpretation  of, 

264. 
Election  of  Aaron  and  his  descendants  to 

the  priesthood,  significance  of,  320. 
Ephod,  significance  of,  335. 
Erection  of  the  tabernacle,  45. 
Expenses  of  construction,  113. 
Expenses  of  worship,  how  defrayed,  115. 


First  fruits  of  the  cereal  harvest,  presenta- 
tion of,  89 ;  significance  of  the  presenta- 
tion of,  381. 

Five,  significance  of,  ig8. 

Food-offering,  significance  of,  356. 

Form,  symbolism  of,  182  ;  significance  of, 
in  the  edifice,  271. 

Four,  significance  of,  194. 

Frame,  description  of,  ro. 

Fringe  on  the  robe  of  the  ephod,  significance 
of,  333- 

Furniture,  31 ;  interpretation  of,  289, 


Garments  of  the  priests,  significance  of,  324. 
Girdle  of  the  priests,  significance  of,  331. 
Goat's  hair,  curtain  of,  26. 
Gold  on  wood,  14. 
Gold,  significance  of,  226. 
Ground-plan  of  the  tabernacle  was  a  paral- 
lelogram, 9. 

H 

Head-dress  of  the  high-priest,  significance 
of,  337- 

Head-dress  of  subordinate  priests,  signifi- 
cance of,  332. 

Hebrews,  how  far  they  comprehended  the 
significance  of  the  tabernacle,  427. 


High-priest,  his  costume,  60. 

Holiness  of  the  priesthood,  significance  of, 

321. 
Holy  of  holies,  significance  of,  269. 
Holy  place,  significance  of,  267,  307. 
Hyssop,  significance  of,  234. 

I 

Illumination  of  the  court  of  the  women  at 

the  festival  of  tabernacles,  96. 
Incense,  significance  of,  242. 


Jewels,  significance  of,  23 1. 

Journey  from  Sinai  to  the  border  of  Canaan, 

time  occupied  in,  102. 
Journeys  of  the  Hebrews,  loi. 

K 

Keepers  of  the  tabernacle,  55. 
Korah,  rebellion  of,  103. 


Laver  in  the  court,  43  ;  not  in  itself  signifi- 
cant, 294. 

Leaven,  significance  of,  380. 

Leprosy,  lustration  from,  significance  of, 
367. 

Levites,  consecration  of,  52  ;  duties  of,  56 ; 
their  maintenance,  122. 

Linen  of  the  innermost  curtain,  16. 

Lunar  service,  significance  of,  375. 

Lustration  from  sin  required,  76. 

Lustration  from  ceremonial  defilement,  78. 

Lustrations,  interpretation  of,  361. 

M 

Manna,  36. 

Material  of  the  frame,  10. 

Meat-offering,  71. 

Mercy-seat,  significance  of,  310. 

Metals,  significance  of,  in  the  edifice,  285. 

Migrations  of  the  tabernacle,  100. 

Minerals,  symbolism  of,  225. 

Mosaism,  symbolized  in  the  tabernacle,  140; 
prominent  features  of,  140;  differed  from 
heathen  religions,  146  ;  as  it  differed  from 
the  religion  of  Egypt,  147 ;  essentially 
the  same  system  as  Christianity,  164. 


INDEX. 


447 


•  N 

New-moon,  88. 

New-moon  service,  significance  of,  375. 
Number,   symbolism   of,  182 ;    significance 
of,  in  the  edifice,  275. 


O 

Occasional  sacrifices,  98. 
Oil,  significance  of,  238. 


Paschal  ceremonies,  significance  of,  376. 

Passage  of  the  Jordan,  104. 

Passover,  88  ;  celebrated  in  the  wilderness, 
51  ;  first  celebration  of,  in  Canaan,  105. 

Peace-offering,  72  ;  significance  of,  357. 

Pentecost,  90 ;  significance  of  its  ceremo- 
nies, 383. 

Perfumes,  significance  of,  242, 

Pillars  for  the  curtains,  15. 

Planks  of  the  frame,  10. 

Pomegranates  on  the  robe  of  the  ephod, 
significance  of,  334. 

Pouring  of  water  at  the  festival  of  taberna- 
cles, 96  ;  significance  of,  396. 

Priests,  distinguished  from  Levites,  58 ; 
their  official  costume,  59 ;  their  consecra- 
tion, 59  ;  their  duties,  64  ;  their  mainte- 
nance, 118. 

Priesthood,  interpretation  of,  317. 

Prophetic  symbols  or  types,  399. 

Purity,  ceremonial  required,  77. 

Purple,  significance  of,  215. 


Quadrangle,  significance  of,  197. 

R 

Removal  from  Sinai,  100. 

Robe  of  the  ephod,  significance  of,  333. 


Sabbath  service,  87. 

Sabbath,  significance  of,  374. 

Sacrifices,  different  species  of,  66. 

Sacrifices,  interpretation  of,  342. 

Scape-goat,  392. 

Seven,  significance  of,  199. 

Seventh  new-moon,  91. 


Shittim-wood,  10. 

Show-bread,  significance  of,  295. 

Signal  for  removing  to  another  station,  5. 

Silver  sill  under  the  frame,  15. 

Silver,  significance  of,  229. 

Similar  symbols  employed  by  the  Egyptians 
and  the  Hebrews,  134. 

Sin-offering,  67  ;  significance  of,  344. 

Study  of  the  tabernacle  important  to  Chris- 
tians, 435. 

Symbolic  significance  of  the  tabernacle,  ar- 
gued from  the  general  use  of  symbols  in 
the  time  of  Moses,  130 ;  testimony  to,  in 
Jewish  writings,  135;  evident  to  one  who 
understands  the  language  of  symbols,  139. 

Symbolism  of  the  ancients,  177. 

Symbols  were  employed  by  the  Egyptians, 
132. 

Symbols  of  the  tabernacle,  had  reference 
primarily  to  Mosaism  as  distinguished 
from  Christianity,  151  ;  in  what  way 
prophetic  of  Christianity,  164  ;  means  of 
interpreting,  167. 


Tabernacle,  the  word  applied  to  the  inner- 
most curtain,  16  ;  at  Gilgal,  106  ;  at  Shi- 
loh,  106;  at  Nob,  107;  at  Gibeon,  no; 
deposited  in  the  temple  by  Solomon,  in. 

Tabernacles,  festival  of,  95 ;  significance  of 
ceremonies  at  the  festival  of,  394. 

Table  of  show-bread,  38  ;  significance  of,  295. 

Tax  of  half-shekel,  115. 

Tax  for  celebration  of  festivals,  123. 

Temporary  tabernacle,  4. 

Ten,  significance  of,  202. 

Three,  significance  of,  187. 

Tithes,  122. 

Transportation  of  the  tabernacle,  100. 

Trespass-offering,  69  ;  significance  of,  354. 

Triangle,  significance  of,  i8g. 

Tripartite  division  of  the  tabernacle,  signifi- 
cance of,  270. 

Trumpets,  festival  of,  91  ;  significance  of 
the  ceremonies  at  the  festival  of,  384. 

Tunic,  significance  of,  328. 

Twelve,  significance  of,  205. 
Types,  or  prophetic  symbols,  399. 
Typology  of  Lund,  specimen  of,  156. 


448 


INDEX. 


Typical  of  Christ  as  an  expiator,  the  priest- 
hood was,  416. 

Typical  of  Christ  as  a  sacrifice,  all  the  sacri- 
fices of  the  tabernacle  were,  418. 

Typical  of  Christ  as  a  sin-offering,  the  sin- 
offering  of  the  tabernacle  was,  421. 

Typical  of  Christ,  the  costume  of  the  priests 
was,  412. 

Typical  of  Christ,  the  edifice  was,  400. 

Typical  of  Christ,  the  eminence  of  the  priests 
over  their  brethren  was,  410. 

Typical  of  the  expiation  made  by  Christ,  the 
fellowship  of  Christians  with  God  through 
Christ,  and  of  the  still  closer  fellowship 
between  him  and  the  Father,  the  priest- 
hood was,  410. 

Typical  of  the  final  condition  of  redeemed 
humanity,  the  holy  of  holies  was,  406. 

Typical  of  the  period  between  the  two  ad- 
vents of  Christ,  the  fioly  place  was,  406. 

Typical  of  the  union  of  Christians  with 
Christ,  the  breastplate  was,  416. 

Typical  of  the  union  of  Christians  with 
Christ,  the  frame  was,  405. 


Uncleanness,  77. 

Uncleanness,  ceremonial,  78. 

Uncleanness  by  contact  with  death,  signifi- 
cance of  the  lustration  from,  364. 

Uncleanness  of  leprosy,  significance  of  the 
lustration  from,  367. 

Unleavened  bread  during  the  paschal  week, 
significance  of,  379. 

Uzza,  death  of,  108. 


Vegetable  substances,  symbolism  of,  233. 

Veil  at  the  entrance,  25. 

Veil  between  holy  place  and  holy  0/  holies, 

w 

Water  of  separation,  366. 

Water,  pouring  of,  at  the  festival  of  taber- 

nacles,  96  :  significance  of,  396. 
White  linen,  significance  of,  209. 


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